An atypical trial will take place on November 5 in Nyon. Justice is prosecuting a 43-year-old French woman for slander against her ex-partner “in the context of a very conflictual divorce”. A rather rare occurrence, the prosecutor is asking for a 12-month suspended prison sentence.
At the end of 2019, this woman filed a complaint against her ex-partner for sexual acts against their 3-year-old daughter. At the start of 2021, justice cleared the 64-year-old Dutchman, but the father-daughter relationship suffered. It was first interrupted for six months, then for the next 18, the father was only able to see his daughter again in the presence of a third party, twice for two hours per month.
“These accusations are increasingly common in conflictual divorces and the manipulative parent very often goes unpunished,” laments Julien Dura, president of the Parents, Children, Youth Movement. In addition, the wife is also accused of having hidden letters from her husband from the courts until the appeal deadline had passed. He thus suddenly found himself required to pay 5,650 francs per month to his wife and to see their daughter only occasionally.
Today, the sixty-year-old wants to obtain sole custody of his daughter. He has filed a complaint against his ex, but the case could be tricky. “Convictions for slander in the event of a false accusation of sexual acts against one’s child are very rare, because often, the accusing parent hides behind the word of his child. This makes the falsity of the alleged facts and their knowledge difficult to establish with satisfaction,” says Nader Wolf, a lawyer who is not a party to the case.
The child, the big loser
“False accusations of incest are a weapon of mass destruction. They leave traces of suspicion and foster a great deal of conflict that damages the child’s long-term development,” summarizes Philipp Jaffé, a psychologist and member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. He continues: “He is the big loser in these situations, which initially benefit the accusing parent, who is most often mired in deep psychological problems.”
