Mother acquitted of abuse

Sons had ‘motive to fabricate’: judge

A pair of teenage brothers caught in the middle of a custody battle “had a motive to fabricate” when they accused their mother of sexually abusing them as children, an Ottawa judge ruled Tuesday.

The 52-year-old mother was acquitted nearly three years after the initial accusation.

“The hell that she’s been put through,” her lawyer James Foord said after the decision. “It’s been an absolute nightmare.”

The brothers were just toddlers when their parents separated. The relationship between mother and father grew toxic as they took turns calling the Children’s Aid Society and police on each other with allegations of unfit parenting, Justice Ann Alder detailed in her decision.

In June 2010, the 15- and 16-year-old brothers moved in with their father after a fight with their mother.

Despite years of access to CAS and police, it wasn’t until the brothers were ordered to go on a planned vacation to Europe with their mother in August 2010 that they reported she had been physically abusive. The brothers still had to go on the trip.

“Clearly the disclosure of physical abuse did not have the desired effect,” Alder said.

When their father received a notice in November 2010 that their mother wanted them to move back in with her, the teenage boys made allegations of sexual abuse.