Abba – the information came from a Rav and he was very careful about he he phrased it in order not to be “oiver” on LH. His specific lashon was something like, “She claimed there was physical abuse and it was probably true (or “it seems it was true” – I don’t remember the precise lashon and in any case, it was in hebrew).”
My impression was that he was sure it was true (or he wouldn’t have said anything), but he was very careful to be accurate in how he phrased it since he had not actually witnessed it himself, obviously.
In terms of LH and the wife’s side, I was actually exceedingly impressed by them. Before I spoke to this Rav, I called the ex-wife’s sister who told me that as the ex-wife’s sister, she couldn’t tell me anything. She was very sweet and wished me hatzlacha at the end of the call. After I spoke to the Rav and found out what had happened, I was really impressed by the sister!