Appeal by child’s mother leads to ban on contact between Kristoffer White and his daughter until she turns 16
The mother’s barrister, Charlotte Proudman, said ‘the father inflicted devastating emotional harm to the whole family’. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
A convicted rapist who was previously allowed to have unsupervised time with his child has been stripped of his parental responsibility.
Kristoffer White, who has been described as a “danger to women and children”, failed to turn up to court last week for a hearing, attended by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), to determine the involvement he could have in his daughter’s life.
White has a criminal conviction for the rape of a stranger, and the family court found he had also raped the child’s mother on three occasions.
Judge Moradifar was asked by the mother to revoke White’s parental responsibility and issue a barring order to limit his ability to bring the case back to court. White’s ex-partner also asked the court to extend a non-molestation order – the equivalent of a restraining order – until her daughter’s 16th birthday.
Charlotte Proudman, the mother’s barrister, told the court: “The father inflicted devastating emotional harm on the whole family, including the child, which he continued to deny. It’s hard to see how there can be any positive factors that justify the father being capable of exercising his parental rights.”
Parental responsibility – which mothers automatically have and fathers have if they are married to the mother or named on the birth certificate – can only be removed by an order from the family court. Stripping someone of this responsibility is seen as one of the court’s more severe powers.
White being able to liaise with the mother about the child’s medical records, school reports or other welfare matters would cause her emotional trauma as a victim of rape, Proudman argued.Despite the serious findings made against him, including rape, by District Judge Harrison, White had previously been granted unsupervised access to his daughter after a recommendation by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass).