A YOUNG boy is at the heart of an international tug of love that has led to the jailing of his Australian father.
Nicholas was abducted and taken to Malaysia by his father, Jimmy, in
March but the unusual case has been kept secret for the past seven
months.
In that time, solicitors for Jimmy's wife made repeated attempts in the Family Court to organise the boy's return.
In a plea yesterday for urgent intervention, the mother released
photographs of Nicholas, 3, who has a medical condition that leads to
him having seizures if he overheats.
"I know my son is hurting. I am pleading to Jimmy to return Nicholas to me," she said.
"I am desperate. I want the nightmare to stop."
Despite Jimmy being punished last month with an indefinite sentence in
a Brisbane jail for refusing Family Court orders to return Nicholas to
Australia, the father has vowed to never end his estranged wife's pain.
The wife wants Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer to use any
diplomatic means available to persuade Malaysian authorities to be
guided by the Australian Family Court's rulings on the case.
"I know that there are people, friends of Jimmy's, who know where
Nicholas is. Please tell me if he is OK and where he is," she said.
Department of Foreign Affairs officials said they would contact the
mother today, despite her son being abducted more than seven months
ago.
A spokesman for Mr Downer said yesterday he did not know whether the
case had previously being brought to the department's attention.
But the spokesman said the mother's desperate pleas for Mr Downer's personal intervention were not falling on deaf ears.
"We need to have a close look at this case before we make a judgment on what we can do," he said.
Family Court Justice Brian Jordan has convicted Jimmy of contempt and
warned him that he faces an indefinite sentence for failing to comply
with his orders to return Nicholas.
"This is not a child abduction case regulated by our laws because
Malaysia is not a country which prescribes to the international
treaties," Justice Jordan said in his ruling.
He told Jimmy he had the capacity to ensure his own freedom by freeing his son.
But in tape-recorded phone calls from the Arthur Gorrie Correctional
Centre, the father has instructed his mother and uncle in Sarawak,
Malaysia, to never return Nicholas even if it means a lifetime in
prison.
SOURCE: Heraldsun Newspaper - Melbourne, Victoria.
Hedley Thomas and Stefanie Balogh
18oct04
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