Vancouver Canucks owner accused of serious crime, could be forced to sell team
The Vancouver Canucks and owner Francesco Aqualini are back in the news for all the wrong reasons. Today in court filings information came out from Aqualini's adult children released claims of abuse in a Vancouver court.
The details below include some graphic information on the topic.
Three of Francesco Aquilini's children, all of whom are now adults, have levelled "serious" allegations that he abused them when they were younger, a lawyer for the Vancouver Canucks chairman and governor's former wife told a judge Tuesday.
The allegations were made in the context of an application by Taliah Aquilini, who divorced her husband in 2013, to have the three children, all of whom she says are attending university ful-time, continue to be declared to be children of the marriage for the purpose of child support payments.
Claire Hunter, a lavwyer for Tali'ah Aquilini, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Karen Douglas that the children no longer wish to have any contact with their father and felt "fear and anxiety" about the possibility of him contacting them.
She said that Francesco Aquilini had provided child support up until September 2021, but then stopped payments.
The parties were having a dispute over information about the children's university education being withheld from him. For example, the names of their universities have not been disclosed since 2018, said Hunter.
The children described abuse and inappropriate conduct by their dad, including alleged incidents of physical and psychological abuse, court heard.
In one incident, Aquilini allegedly beat one of his sleeping children and continued the beating after the child woke up.
One of his kids claimed to have seen him throw a five-year-old child across a room. A third allegation had him punching a child in the stomach, causing the child to cry.
The allegations were made in the context of an application by Taliah Aquilini, who divorced her husband in 2013, to have the three children, all of whom she says are attending university ful-time, continue to be declared to be children of the marriage for the purpose of child support payments.
Claire Hunter, a lavwyer for Tali'ah Aquilini, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Karen Douglas that the children no longer wish to have any contact with their father and felt "fear and anxiety" about the possibility of him contacting them.
She said that Francesco Aquilini had provided child support up until September 2021, but then stopped payments.
The parties were having a dispute over information about the children's university education being withheld from him. For example, the names of their universities have not been disclosed since 2018, said Hunter.
The children described abuse and inappropriate conduct by their dad, including alleged incidents of physical and psychological abuse, court heard.
In one incident, Aquilini allegedly beat one of his sleeping children and continued the beating after the child woke up.
One of his kids claimed to have seen him throw a five-year-old child across a room. A third allegation had him punching a child in the stomach, causing the child to cry.
These allegations are extremely troubling, but have not been proven true at this point. The NHL does have rules in place that would allow them to force a sale if they chose to based off the findings by the court.
The case continues to be heard and will hopefully find some resolution in the coming weeks.
| POLL | ||
If allegations are proven true should the league force a sale? | ||
| Yes, they must act | 119 | 66.9 % |
| No, it's his team and this is totally separate | 59 | 33.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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