Chapter 294 - Are we on repeat? (3)

18 April, Municipal Courthouse, City K

Hearing everything said bluntly, Lexi sat there seething. It hurt reading her allegations in writing but to hear them spelled out so bluntly by the judge. How she wanted to react, but out of the corner of her eye she saw her former mother-in-law smirking, thinking that she was about to react.

Lexi took a couple of calming breaths, and felt Matthew squeeze her knee, as a means of comfort.

"It is not in Dominic's interest at this time that we drag out dealing with this application. I want to hear from both Madam Yao and Madam Rong personally, to put their positions forward. If that results in questions for General Rong, I will ask them and then hear from Lieutenant Li about the matter. By then, child welfare who have gone to speak to Dominic at his school should be here with a brief report. Then both legal teams have time for three minutes of submissions on what should happen."

Matthew, tensed. He knew that standard procedure would have child welfare speak to Dominic given the allegation. Lexi leaned over, and quietly said "Matthew, do not worry. When Richard died, child welfare given my age and the circ.u.mstances of his death did a couple of welfare checks. There was nothing then, and we know there will be nothing now."

Signalling to Madam Yao, she stood with a smirk on her face, almost saying she knew she was going to win. "This case is extremely simply. This is about respecting my son, Dominic's father's wishes for his son give he is not here. He clearly spelled out that, while she," with that she pointed to Lexi, "Did not remarry Dominic was to remain in her care. His will explained articulated his concerns for Dominic on her remarriage. He would be cut off from his grandfather and myself. That is exactly what is happening. She is setting terms and conditions on how and when we can spend time with Dominic, and as soon as she falls pregnant with a new child Dominic will be cast aside and become a second-class member of the family."

"Then we have her so-called husband. A soldier, who automatically brings with him increased risks for Dominic's safety. That has led to Dominic being surrounded by security, which impinges on his relationsh.i.p.s with his paternal family to the point that I cannot allow Dominic to see his great-uncle and his family."

Matthew, hearing that wanted to react. Warren Gong might be highly educated and successful businessman and Dominic's great-uncle, but he was a thug who with his associates posed a risk to national security. No way did he want Dominic in contact with him because Warren Gong was known when push comes to shove to take it out on people close to him. The bodies of the associates he killed while making his way up the ladder to head the family cartel, along with those that were found of those within the cartel that p*ssed him off automatically indicated that Dominic could be at risk if he p*ssed him off.

"That cutting off of Dominic from his family," Madam Yao continued, now speaking with a pitiful tone "is exactly what my son was concerned about. Cutting off half of Dominic's family is not in Dominic's interest. Then you have what happened last week. My husband and I were lucky that he was not feeling well so we did not attend but the news stories and what I have been told by people who were there are consistent. The General allowed a woman to be shot, to protect his wife, and it was only when she was being dragged away did he they withdraw a firearm before shooting it while there were so many people in close proximity to where he was standing and the shooting. He had no concept of protection of the community."

Lexi had to place her hand on Matthew's leg, to keep him calm. How dare that witch say that he only acted when she was at risk, and then at the total disregard of the public safety.

"This cavalier attitude can only indicate that Dominic, could be at risk through his careless use of firearms. That same attitude would have me believe that he would not secure his firearms at home, meaning that Dominic could easily get access to them, which poses significant risks."

"By simple luck on Tuesday I happened to be going past the Women's refuge and who do I see entering the premises but my former daughter-in-law. People only go there when they are subject to abuse in the home. Given that the general was in hospital it appears that this was the opportunity that she had to get help. That means that Dominic has been exposed to abuse within the home, and a man like that would not simply stop at abusing his wife, he would abuse a child as well."

"The court cannot stand by and allow me, a loving and caring grandmother," by this time Madam Yao had tears running down her face "and my husband a loving and caring grandfather to be cut out of our grandson's life. Then you have the risks to Dominic by remaining where he is, both in terms of his physical safety and his mental health. We do not know what the General has been exposing Dominic to and the only thing that the court can do to protect his is to remove him from his mother and stepfather's care and place him into our care. The court then, has to ban any contact between Dominic and his mother for at least six months to allow him to recover from what has happened and then only if she is not in a relationship with her abuser."

As she turned around to sit down, Lexi could see the total evil look in her former mother-in-law's eyes, which sent the message give up now I have won.

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