Shazeeda Haroon

In a high-conflict family law trial, the applicant father sought primary residence and sole decision-making for the parties' seven-year-old child, while the respondent mother sought a 'therapeutic goodbye' to sever the father's relationship with the child.

The mother had made numerous allegations of family violence and child sexual abuse against the father, resulting in criminal charges that were later withdrawn.

The court found that the mother engaged in severe parental alienation, coached the child to make false abuse allegations, and deliberately sabotaged 51 court-ordered supervised parenting visits.

Concluding that the mother's restrictive gatekeeping and alienating behaviour caused psychological harm to the child, the court awarded sole decision-making and primary residence to the father, along with a five-month no-contact order for the mother.

The court also ordered the partition and sale of the matrimonial home, imputed an income of $60,000 to the mother for child support, and ordered her to pay an equalization payment of $100,327.47.

The applicant mother brought a motion to change a final order to seek sole custody of the child, and the respondent father responded seeking sole custody and a finding of contempt against the mother for access denial and breaches of previous orders.

The court found a material change in circumstances due to the mother's frequent relocations, school changes, and introduction of new partners, which negatively impacted the child.

The court ordered joint custody with a parallel parenting regime, dividing decision-making responsibilities, while maintaining the child's primary residence with the mother.

The mother was found in contempt of court for deliberately breaching previous orders regarding the child's name change, decision-making consultation, and make-up access.