As read in the International Business Times, and several local media outlets, a Texas judge has temporarily lost custody of his ten year-old daughter due to the backlash from a recently aired videotape on YouTube, that clearly shows him beating the child's older sister.
The older sibling, now 23, posted a YouTube this past October that she had filmed in secret - of a 2004 belt lashing inflicted by her father, Texas Family Law Judge W.A., allegedly as punishment because the girl had illegally downloaded music off of the Internet.
Now W.A. is in a child custody battle with his former wife, H.A., because H.A. has recently gained a temporary restraining order that forbids him from visiting his younger daughter without her permission.
Judge K.S.W., of the Texas State District Court, issued the court order - that also stipulates that W.A. must neither denigrate H.A. or consume alcohol within 24 hours of a visit with his child.
The video clip - 8 minutes in length - graphically shows W.A. forcing his eldest daughter to bend over to receive her lashing, and the child pleading with him to stop hurting her. She told KPLC News, "I decided to release the tape now after these seven years because I just finally snapped. It wasn't any carefully planned orchestration or anything like that, and I didn't really mean for anything huge to come of it."
The video has since gone viral with furious viewers demanding W.A.'s resignation.
As the beating occurred over four years ago, the statute of limitations in Texas will not allow the district attorney or federal prosecutors to file charges against W.A. But the New York Times has reported that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is investigating the incident.
H.A.'s attorney, Brett Pritchard, said, "The impetus is she doesn't feel at first that her daughter is safe going down there to be with the judge right now. The impetus now is the result of the video, not necessarily the video itself."
H.A. has accused her former spouse of "child neglect, physical abuse or emotional abuse" in regards to his behavior toward their 10 year old. She has also claimed that W.A. suffers with both mental and behavioral problems.
The Chief of Rockport Police Department, T.J., told reporters that their investigation of W.A. proved to show no indications of abuse.
W.A.'s attorney, William Dudley, has since sought to have the restraining order blocked. Of the charges, Dudley said that they are a "little more than a poorly written autobiography of (H.A.'s) unfulfilled relationship" and that the affidavit itself "is filled with opinion, conjecture, statements which are clearly not based on personal knowledge, and which precede the parties' final decree of divorce."
If you have found yourself in the midst of a seemingly uncontrollable custody battle over your children, no matter what the circumstances may be, contact a family law attorney that best knows the ins and outs of family law.