03/11/2022
A Brampton judge has ordered a man to pay his ex-wife $150,000 in damages for a 16-year pattern of abuse, including beatings, withholding money and verbal cruelty, a decision experts say opens a new legal path to recognize the “uniquely harmful” impact of family violence.
“These patterns can be cyclical and subtle, and often go beyond assault and battery to include complicated and prolonged psychological and financial abuse,” Superior Court Justice Renu Mandhane concluded in her recent decision. In general, existing law focuses on specific incidents, while the “family violence” approach focuses on long-term, harmful patterns of conduct that are designed to control or terrorize, she wrote.
In practice, one hard beating at the beginning of a marriage can create an imminent threat of daily violence, she wrote, which is what happened in the case before her, where she found that the man first severely beat his wife upon returning to India after their honeymoon in 2000.
After the couple moved to Canada in 2002, the man “preyed” on his wife’s vulnerability as a racialized newcomer; assaulted and demeaned her, leaving her with lasting mental health disabilities; controlled their bank accounts; and left her and their children with no access to money when he left them in 2016, Mandhane wrote.
Over 16 years he “created a situation where it was practically impossible for the Mother to leave the relationship or pursue accountability,” she wrote.
Experts say the decision is precedent-setting and offers a new pathway for survivors of family violence to seek fair compensation in the civil courts.
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A Brampton judge has ordered a man to pay his ex-wife $150,000 in damages for a 16-year pattern of abuse, including beatings, withholding money and verbal cruelty, a decision experts say opens a new...
