Mama Dies after Failing to Protect Her Babies
And: Good News/Bad News Updates
In light of last week’s post about a Custody Crisis case where a ton of evidence of sexual abuse was disregarded and the child given to the molester father, this is a repost about an old case in which evidence was also covered up.
It demonstrates how things have not changed at all in six years, despite reforms within the Family Court system. There was an abundance of evidence in Nashwa’s case, just like in Ria’s, but it ended with her death in 2019 on Mothers Day.
Nashwa was a well-loved and respected physician. She was a Women’s Coalition follower and we began covering her story in 2018. What was done to her—the taking and endangering of her children—was horrible…And it is still being done to mothers (and their children) every day in family courts around the world.
Women must unite to expose this outrage and demand a new system. Share Nashwa’s story and join us at WomensCoalitionInternational.org.
NASHWA’S STORY
2018
What? We have to go live with our father? We can’t do that! Mama, we’re freaking out. Can’t you fight for us?
Two six-year old brothers were taken away from their mother, Nashwa, and sent to live in the sole custody of their father, an Air Force colonel who the boys said had physically and sexually them for years.
This was despite an extraordinary amount of evidence from photographs, video, medical records and witnesses supports the allegations. This evidence includes five disclosures by the boys themselves to non-parental caregivers, medical authorities and child welfare authorities.
[A]n extraordinary amount of evidence from photographs, video, medical records and witnesses supports the allegations [of abuse]…From ages 3-5…the boys came home from visits with their father with a long list of suspicious injuries…[One son] also had a bruised genital and described digital and penile penetration of his anus to several individuals, including investigators.
Yet a Maryland Montgomery County family court judge, Judge Joan Ryon awarded sole custody to him and restricted the boys’ mother, a Harvard-trained anesthesiologist, to supervised visitation once every two weeks.
Ryon accused Nashwa of manipulating the boys into reporting the abuse. But that is very rare, according to child abuse experts and research.
Ryon did not require the father to pay any of the more than $100,000 he owed in back child support and ordered Nashwa to pay $5700 a month in child support to their father going forward.
Nashwa’s friends and relatives worry for the boys’ safety.
We are shocked. At worst, we thought [the father] would get supervised visitation…He has admitted he cannot control his anger and sexual impulses.
Montgomery County is the same court system that gave unsupervised visitation to the father of Prince, who killed him on the 4th unsupervised visit. It was also where Anthony, Austin and Athena Castillo (ages 6, 4 and 2) were drowned by their father after he was awarded unsupervised visitation—despite multiple warnings from their mother, a pediatrician, that he would kill them.
How does a family court judge make a decision like this? Pulling the boys away from their mother and giving them to a man with a hair trigger temper who wouldn't even pay child support.
When the mother’s attorney attempted to introduce photographic evidence of injuries, Ryon disregarded it along with other evidence related to abuse.
A DV expert opined:
Once again we have found that child sexual abuse allegations brought by mothers and children against fathers are almost never credited. In addition, the data confirms what we have seen in the courts—that rates of mothers losing custody to alleged abusers are at their highest when the mothers allege child sexual abuse.
Research has found that courts only credit a mother’s claim of a child’s sexual abuse 1 out of 51 times (approximately 2%) when the accused father accuses her of alienation. Even when alienation is not brought up, courts only credit mothers’ claims about child sexual abuse 15% of the time.
Other experts opined:
To take these kids from their primary caregiver, which is itself traumatic, and then order her to supervised visitation based on junk science is a tragedy.
The legal system has just completely failed these boys,” Slavoff said. It's hard to know what will happen next. "Their mother just is trying to protect these kids, which is what a devoted, loving mother does for the children she adores.
2019
Nashwa shared the Coalition’s post about her case on January 22, 2019, shortly before her death.
SON’S CRY FOR HELP
On January 31st, Nashwa posted a video of her son crying and talking about the abuse, begging for help to stop it. She captioned it: “Indefensible.” Which it is. He should never have been made to visit his father ever again.
In the video, her son is crying hard, saying his father put his finger in his butt and “it hurts a lot”. He also confirms his father puts his pee pee in his butt.
My butt is so sore! I want somebody to help me.
The boys would cry whenever they had to leave Nashwa to go back to their father, who had been given sole custody. They could not understanding why they couldn’t live with her where they wanted so badly to be.
It was shortly after this that Nashwa was unable to see her boys at all. A few months later she was dead.
Judge Ryon deliberately disregarded and concealed the strong evidence of abuse by the father. Her findings that Nashwa is a manipulator and alienator are lies, pure and simple.
NASHWA DIES
Nashwa’s last post was on Mothers Day hours before she died:
Nashwa was found dead in her home the day after Mother’s Day. It is unclear whether she took her own life. She had told a friend that she could not live in a world where she could not protect her boys.
But other friends say she was not suicidal and would never have left her boys alone with their father.
Nash told me that if anything happened to her and it looked like it was suicide that it wasn't. She said it's [the father] and that he either did it or had someone do it. She told me to tell people that.
THE PATTERN
Nashwa’s story fits the pattern of thousands, perhaps millions around the world, where Family Court judges disregard evidence of abuse by fathers and falsely accuse mothers of lying, alienating or being mentally ill. Women suffer immensely as a result of this institutionalized entitling of men and oppression of women.
Judge Ryon is obviously “going along to get along” by covering up the abuse and taking these children away from their loving, primary nurturing mother, forcing them to live with their named abuser. All so she can maintain, and perhaps even increase, her own power. In other words, Ryon has made the ultimate Faustian bargain: hurting kids for power.
Judges aim to appease the Old Boy Network, from which they gain their own status and power. And they will sacrifice mothers and children in service of their goal, even women judges (especially women judges!) like Nashwa’s.
A list of mothers who’ve died due to Family Court malfeasance can be found in a previous post: Mom Uses Her Suicide to Warn Women about Family Court.
Nashwa’s case makes it crystal clear that the solution is not training judges. They know exactly what they are doing. And new laws protecting children won’t help either, as judges can protect children if they want according to existing laws.
Women must unite as a class so we have the power to demand a new system. Join The Women’s Coalition.
SEXUAL ABUSE SURVEY
The Women’s Coalition is documenting custody cases that involve sexual abuse to support our contention that judges are deliberately disregarding evidence of abuse by fathers.
If you reported sexual abuse of your child in Family Court, please take a minute to fill out this form. You may do this anonymously.
UPDATES
GOOD NEWS
RIA was not placed in contempt or jailed! And she is now allowed virtual contact with her daughter. Perhaps the widespread publicity and our support helped.
These rulings came down at her hearing this week after our last post: Brazen Cover Up of Sexual Abuse by New Jersey Family Court Judges. Perhaps it helped to have all of us watching…
However, it is a sad state of affairs, outrageous really, that women have to be happy about not being thrown in jail and only seeing their children virtually when all they are doing is trying to keep and protect their children from abusive exes.
BAD NEWS
PATRICK had his trial last month and was sentenced to 3 1/2 years; 20 months until the possibility of parole. He faces deportation to his home country of South Africa. He will be filing an appeal.
Patrick was one of the three Australians indicted for aiding mothers in hiding from sexually abusive fathers who were given custody. The other two were let off on a technicality, but Patrick had additional charges for posting on social media in support of the mothers.
Their story is in a previous column.
Dr. Russ Pridgeon was one of the others charged and her wrote a book about the cover-up: “Everybody Knows: Hiding Crimes of Incest by Prosecuting Protectors”.
His book documents how judges knew the children were being sexually abused and gave custody to the father anyway. And how prosecutors, law enforcement and others aided and abetted them.
A fuller update about what happened with Patrick’s trial here.
This is the gofundme his daughter set up which has a link that you can get messages of support to Patrick.
SISTERS IN SOLIDARITY
Our next Sisters in Solidarity forum will be Saturday, October 19th at 1pm Pacific; 4pm Eastern; 8pm GMT; 9pm UTC; 7am (the next morning) in Sydney, Australia.
If you’d like to join SIS, please fill out this form. More info here. You will receive an invitation to the zoom a few days before [check alternate inboxes].
CHAPTER 26; 4th PART IS OUT!
CHAPTER 26 of Mother-Fucking: The Saga of One Fucked Mother is “The Overture”, which precedes The Opera—a simile used to dramatize the final section of the book—the Family Court charade. [This chapter is too long for a newsletter so it is being posted in parts. This is the 4th part.]
In this part, Legion continues with her painstaking rebuttal of all the lies in Herry’s opening declaration. She had thought the truth would matter in a court of law. She is especially livid responding to the lies about how involved he was with parenting the boys, as she had done nearly 100% of all the hard, time-consuming work of raising and nurturing them.
In hindsight, Legion sees that the judge did not care one bit whether Herry was lying in his under-oath declaration, nor whether she was telling the truth in her rebuttal of all his lies. All that work and expense of getting the truth to the judge—for naught. Looking back, it was obvious the judge already knew what he was going to do. She has spoken with many other women since her Family Court “mother-fucking” who confirm judges let men get away with lying through their teeth.
In the last part, Legion fully realizes that Herry intends to get sole custody…She is incensed that Herry and the evaluator’s statements are considered facts and evidence, as there is no fact checking in Family Court.
Dr. Blue’s novel is based on her own experience of the Custody Crisis. It uniquely conveys how Family Court judges are “mother-fucking” women—a form of systemic oppression and violence directed at ex-wives—as protagonist Legion is systematically and methodically deprived of her children and money and reduced to “one fucked mother”.
Chapters are stand-alone interesting so you can begin reading anywhere. A Cast of Characters follows to help readers at any point [on the web page]. All published chapters are included in the Section: “Saga of One F**ked Mother” accessible on the top bar of the home page of Women’s Coalition News & Views. Sequential chapters are published every Wednesday and subscribers will find them in their inboxes, so make sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet!
TEASERS
The lies of Section B about Herry’s involvement as a father with his children are hilariously ridiculous, too. And, every fucked mother today 14 years out from these of Herry’s, tells me she reads in her “sworn” divorce and custody documents so such the very same ones. And they get away with them. Nearly all fathers do today, too.
Yeah Jury, it’s one example of the thousands and thousands and thousands [of lies] all over Acts One, Two and Three of a family civil court phenomenon known as ‘he‑said/she‑said’. We shall so read and hear many, many more of these thousands!”
You may also give a gift subscription to a friend who is going through the Family Court nightmare.
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Family court judges fail to protect women and children. Mothers often feel guilty for not being able to protect their children. They frequently carry this burden for the rest of their lives. Adult children often struggle. Women and children are being abused in family court. Mothers and their children are dying. Patriarchy dominates family court. Children are considered male property. Family court judges do not rule in a child's best interests. They rule in their own best interests. Family court judges are rewarded with increased power and status. They face no consequences. Women and children suffer because of their sadistic rulings. Women have no enforceable rights in family court. Family court judges deliberately give child custody to males that request it. It doesn't matter if they're abusive. They falsely deem loving mothers unfit. Women are frequently left penniless and powerless. Many mothers are helpless and hopeless. Family court judges know what they're doing. Facts and evidence are ignored. Laws don't matter. New laws and training programs won't help. Records are sealed. Family court judges abuse their power. Their opinion is what matters. Family court judges intentionally enable abusers. Women and children deserve protection. Mothers and their kids matter!! Women must continue to unite and fight for a new system. A jury would give women and children a chance at justice. Family court must end.