A mother has claimed that a judge’s “outdated views” on sexual assault led him to rule against her after she accused a former partner of rape during a child custody case.

The woman is embroiled in a legal dispute with her ex-partner over whether he should be allowed to spend time with their four-year-old son.

They separated more than three years ago and the boy remained with his mother. She alleged that the child’s father raped her and she had suffered domestic violence at his hands.

Judge Robin Tolson considered six domestic violence allegations made by the woman at the Central Family Court in August.

He upheld none of the claims and concluded that she had taken “no physical steps” to prevent the alleged rape and so it “did not constitute rape”.

A female High Court judge today allowed the woman to appeal Judge Tolson’s ruling. A fresh fact-finding hearing will now be overseen by a different judge.

Barrister Catherine Piskolti, who led the woman’s legal team, said in a written submission to Ms Justice Alison Russell: “The learned judge was wrong in impermissibly allowing his outdated views on sexual assault, and likely victim responses to this, to influence his findings and conclusions.