103 Why Mum has her relationship beliefs

Sunday, continued ...

When Anna Jones and Hou Yi returned to the hotel, a simple tea was arranged for them and they sat on the couch eating.Hou Yi turned to Anna "I am sorry about your mother today."

"Yi, I should have realised that she would view that I was the problem.I have only met her parents about ten time in my life, that I can remember.They belong to a cult.There is no other way to describe it.The mentality is that the man is the head of his household.His word must be obeyed.If he says no to education or work for a woman, they they are not allowed it.They have to always submit to the demands and controls of the head of the household.

"I did not realise how bad it was until I acted for a client who sued this group.She was being being badly beaten by a group member, when she was 8 months pregnant, and rescued by a passing stranger.The beating was that bad that it broke 6 ribs, both arms and a leg for the woman, killed the baby and left her blind in one eye.The stranger took her to the hospital for treatment.When the abuser realised she was in the hospital he came to remove his wife, simply because she was his wife."

"My client had contacted the police because of how bad the beating was, and they obtained a intervention order to protect her, at least while she recovered.her injuries were such that she spent 4 months in hospital to recover from them, as well as deal with the psychological impact.When she was eventually released from hospital she refused to return to her husband, and sort a divorce."

"We became involved in the proceedings as the husband in her attempt to reach a property settlement claimed that he was not only able to do what he did and that all their assets belonged to him, as she had agreed to this when they married.He raised the fact that this was part of their religious beliefs and in refusing to return when he demanded it she broke their religious agreements therefore she should received nothing."

Anna paused for a second and took a deep breath to continue."One thing that this group have women sign on their marriage, is a marital agreement that states that everything that is accumulated in the relationship, including superannuation by a woman, is property of her husband, and she waives all claims against it.If a woman refuses to return to her husband at any time, that provision of the marital contract is triggered, and he gets everything."

"Our involvement was to assist on a pro-bono basis in bringing the so-called church into the proceedings as a party so she could get a settlement and compensation for her injuries.I did not realise that my grandfather was a church elder, until we went into a court ordered conference to attempt to reach a resolution."

"During that conference his first comment was that as the head of his household which I belonged to, he was telling me that the proceedings were to be dropped, and that I was to immediately return to his household and submit to his demands.He then also proceeded to tell me that I was to be married to another church member within a few days, and then added a few things about how my marriage would be.One thing that was telling was that all my assets belonged to him."

"While, due to his comments I was immediately removed from the case, they resulted in our client not only receiving a family law agreement, but a large amount of compensation from the church.

Mum lived with that attitude until she was 25 years old.Her first husband was arranged by her father and he followed those beliefs."

"When he died, the elders allowed her to go away and grieve.It was during this time she met my father, who had recently lost his wife.Even though he was not of their religious beliefs, my grandfather accepted dad, as from what he saw, dad followed their religious teachings.It is no wonder that I got the reaction I did on Tuesday and today.She will never change.At least everyone else supports me."

"Anna, just relax.Do not worry about your mother.We have so much to do tomorrow.Go relax, have a bath or shower and head to bed.I have to tele-confence with Assistant Wang about some matters.I am actually feeling guilty about having him go in on a weekend, but it cannot be avoided, as there are things not organised that need to be, given on how short of notice we left."

"OK."As Anna wandered into the bedroom, Hou Yi went into the study, and had an hourly long teleconference with Assistant Wang.When he finished and went into the bedroom, Anna was asleep.Hou Yi carefully and quietly walked into the bathroom and had a shower, before dressing and heading to bed.