Brody Dalle Given Community Service in Custody Battle with QOTSA’s Josh Homme
Brody Dalle, frontwoman of The Distillers and ex-wife of Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, has been ordered to perform community service and pay a fine for violating the terms of a 2020 custody agreement over the couple’s children.
In September, Dalle had filed for restraining orders against Homme on behalf of the couple’s ten-year-old son Orrin and five-year-old son Wolf. The emergency requests for restraining orders were twice denied by judges in two separate districts, although both were set for future hearings. The couple’s oldest child, Camille, 15, was granted her own restraining order against her dad a few days later.
Dalle had alleged that Homme subjects the children to physical abuse, verbal harassment and generally puts them in danger. In the previously denied emergency restraining order, Orrin alleged that his father drinks in the car while driving the kids around; that there was a recent incident where Homme grabbed his private parts; that Homme engages in physical abuse such as flicking Orrin’s ears, hitting his head, poking his chest and throwing things at him; and that Homme calls Orrin fat and makes threats against Dalle’s current boyfriend.
Then, in October, Homme and Dalle were again in court where Homme accused Dalle of violating their 2020 custody agreement by not allowing him to see their kids since August. According to Rolling Stone, Homme claimed Dalle’s actions were “alienating” the children from him, and he wanted her to face fines and either community service or jail time.
The court sided with Homme in this week’s proceedings, as Judge Lawrence Riff ruled that Dalle violated the couple’s 2019 agreement by failing to bring 5-year-old Wolf for a court-mandated custodial visit with Homme. She was sentenced to a $1,000 fine and 60 hours of community service, the nature of which will be determined at a December 3 hearing.
“I’m relieved by the court’s decision. I don’t believe anyone should go to jail or pick up trash for protecting her children,” Dalle said after the hearing, referring to Homme’s initial request for a steeper sentence including jail time. “As a mother, I will always put my children first and protect them at all costs.”
Earlier this month, it was Homme who was shut down by the court. On November 20, the court dismissed another contempt charge, that one involving 10-year-old Orrin. The court ruled that Orrin had decided on his own volition not to visit with his father and dismissed Homme’s accusations that Dalle had kept him from speaking with his sons on a video call.
Judge Riff previously indicated that he was considering appointing around-the-clock monitoring in each parent’s home beginning in October. It’s not clear whether that came to pass.
Homme and Dalle separated in November 2019 and divorced a month later. They had been together since 2005.
[Rolling Stone via Loudwire]
