The family of Marie Eleni Grimsrud – the young girl who was snatched by her estranged father and who is still missing – have succeeded in getting a court in Norway to recognise her case as an abduction.
The ruling in the Scandinavian country is seen by legal experts as a blow to the efforts of her father – 49-year-old Leif Torkel Grimsrud – to take her legally back to Norway. Legal representatives of the mother had made the motion at the Oslo District Court.
Four-year-old Marie was abducted on April 27 as her mother, 43-year-old Greek Cypriot Lena Ioannou, was dropping her off at nursery in Nicosia. Police say the father had orchestrated the abduction and an international arrest warrant is out against him.
Several people had been arrested at the time but have since been released due to lack of evidence.
Back in July, investigators in Cyprus had said that the six-year-old girl had been sighted with her father on a boat at the Antalya marina in Turkey.
“If Marie is sighted in Norway, then the authorities there will be forced to intervene and get her returned safely to her mother in Cyprus,” said Laris Vrahimis – the lawyer representing the mother in Cyprus.
“We believe we know where Marie is, but we will not be making that knowledge public. We are doing everything we can to get her back.”
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An Orono woman discovered dead with her 5-year-old son Monday left a suicide note lamenting her long-running court battle with the father over custody that ended with them having joint parenting rights, according to a search warrant filed Wednesday.
Police have called the hangings of Gina Ilene Summers, 46, and her son Jude a murder-suicide. It appears to follow a lengthy custody dispute between Summers and the boy’s father, 51-year-old Jeff Sandberg, of Minnetonka.
Officers first stopped by the home Monday, after Sandberg notified police that he could not reach anyone there to arrange for picking up his son at 5 p.m., Police Chief Correy Farniok said. Summers and Sandberg have joint custody of the boy.
The home was locked and no one answered the door, Farniok said. Sandberg was advised to call back later if the situation remained the same, the chief said.
After the father called again, a relative who lived nearby and had keys let police in about 8 p.m. That’s when the bodies were found in the basement and a preliminary determination of murder-suicide was made, the chief said.
Summers’ typed and signed note, which was discovered nearby, “talked about prior domestic abuse and issues with the system and allowing a child to be ripped from his mother,” and it ended with, “Don’t let this happen to another child and mother.”
Sandberg released a statement late Thursday through his attorney pointing out how he went from enjoying a family fishing trip a week ago to the Boundary Waters with his 5-year-old son and others to now “planning the funeral for Jude, murdered by his mother, Gina Summers, when he was getting ready for his first day of Ready Start Kindergarten.”
Sandberg challenged the mother’s allegations, writing that Summers “since the onset of the case in January 2015 when she falsely accused the father of domestic abuse, never missed an opportunity to disrupt the established father-son relationship, both inside and outside of the Family Court paternity proceedings.”
He said Summers traumatized him and his family over the past 2½ years with “her actions and inactions, including her scheduling of multiple motions before the court, not only before but also after the trial, and subsequently to the Court of Appeals, and her absolute refusal to participate in ordered mediation.”
Police searched Summers’ house and found documents, including court and mental health papers. A camera system was also installed at the property.
According to court documents in their disputes over Jude’s custody and care, Summers and Sandberg began a romantic relationship in 2008, and the next year discussed having a child through in vitro fertilization. After several failed pregnancy attempts, Jude was born in August 2012.
By July 2015, the relationship had become toxic. Summers received an order for protection against Sandberg, saying he had been physically abusing her since 2009. That petition was eventually settled and dismissed.
But the two continued to fight over the pregnancy costs and how to care for the boy. They filed court motions against one another over which school district he should attend. On Friday, Hennepin County District Judge Edward Wahl ruled in Sandberg’s favor.
The court records include many of the boy’s report cards, pictures and assessments. His preschool teacher wrote that the boy is “doing great in class! He is such a smiley and loving boy!”
Summers worked as a Realtor in the west metro. In an online biography, she spoke at length about activities with her son, that ranged “from reading to painting, from racing cars to swimming with them, from gardening to building, all ball sports, and not to mention teaching him to downhill ski at 17 months old; the list of fun goes
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Jeremy O’Connor hasn’t seen his ex wife or his son since 2014
A heartbroken dad who hasn’t hugged his son since he was abducted three years ago says the lives of his family have been “shattered”.
Jeremy O’Connor drove his ex-wife Yolandie Botha and their then four-year-old boy Joshua to the airport for a month-long holiday to South Africa in 2014 – and hasn’t seen either of them since.
The 48-year-old, from Navan, Co Meath, contacted the authorities to report the parental child abduction and said he was told a court case would be held within a year under the Hague Convention.
However, three years on Jeremy, who has three other children, still awaits a court case to get his son back.
Although he Skypes Joshua, now seven, regularly, he hasn’t held him in three years and is worried his son is beginning to forget his relatives.
Jeremy said: “Under the Hague Convention, a parental child abduction case is expedited in under a year to avoid a child becoming settled in another country.”
But South African authorities have deferred court hearings three times, with no new date given.
Jeremy, who works in sales, added: “Yolandie and I split amicably after being together a number of years.
“I had absolutely no problem with her taking Joshua to South Africa for a month-long holiday to see her family.
“I signed the necessary consent forms and even drove them to the airport. That was the last time I saw my son.
“She contacted me before she was due to return to tell me they weren’t coming back.”
Jeremy says that under access rights, he is allowed to contact Joshua through online video chats.
He said: “I Skype him regularly but haven’t seen him in over three years. I also have other children who miss him dreadfully and he has missed out on a lot of family occasions.
“I was really close to Joshua when he was here and now I only see him on a screen. I can’t even hug him.
“My mother – his grandmother – Skyped him the other day and he didn’t know who she was.
“She was devastated and cried no end. I feel failed by the South African authorities.
“They haven’t appointed me a solicitor and every court date has been deferred.”
Jeremy now fears, due to the length of time elapsed, a court might rule Joshua is settled in South Africa and it would be an upheaval to move him.
Jeremy O’Connor and his son Joshua.
He said: “He has Irish citizenship, he was taken wrongfully out of this country and I should have had him back at least two years ago, if the justice system worked properly.”
Jeremy has now decided to talk about his plight publicly as he feels all other routes failed.
He added: “I’m stuck in this limbo for ever and it gets worse and worse everyday.
“A lot of lives have been shattered by this and I’m desperate to try and get some kind of help.”
An Irish Department of Justice spokesperson said: “The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“the Convention”) is a treaty between states that was set up to protect
children subjected to situations of international child abduction.
“It aims to return children to the state where they usually lived prior to their wrongful removal, so the courts can make decisions in relation to matters of custody and/or access.
“The Convention also allows left behind parents to seek to establish access rights to their children. The Convention has been agreed to by over 90 countries, including Ireland, and it has been given the full force of the law in Ireland.”
When contacted by the Irish Mirror yesterday, Yolandie said she was not allowed to talk about the case.
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An NRI woman should have the right to refuse the return of her child to the spouse, from whom she separated on grounds of domestic violence, a high-level panel examining a draft law on civil aspects of International Child Abduction bill is likely to suggest.
Sources in the committee said they were considering introducing the option with an aim to put adequate safeguards to protect NRI parents, especially women, who remove a child from the lawful custody of their spouse.
India can become a signatory to the Hague convention on civil aspects of international child abduction only after a domestic law is in place. Signing the treaty will make inter-parental child abduction an offence punishable with one-year jail.
The Justice Rajesh Bindal -led panel is of the view that in draft law, domestic violence should be made a ground for refusing the return of child to the lawful custody of their spouse from whom they have been separated.
“Many countries, who are signatory to the treaty, have this clause in their domestic law. If a woman says she faces a risk of domestic violence, the government can stop the child from being sent back. We are seeing if this can be part of our domestic law also,” said a panel member on the condition of anonymity.
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MADRID: The plight of a Spanish woman who vanished with her children after defying a court order to hand them over to her Italian ex-partner, found guilty of domestic violence, has shaken the country.
The case burst into the limelight this week just as lawmakers agreed a series of measures to tackle abuse against women, in a country that has made the struggle against domestic violence a priority.
Juana Rivas, a woman in her mid-30s from Maracena in southern Spain, was living in Italy with her partner when she took both their sons, aged 3 and 11, away in May 2016 and never returned, alleging abuse.
According to the Maracena municipal women’s centre which is representing her, she had suffered “psychological and physical violence.”
Her ex-partner, who was found guilty of abusing her in 2009, filed a complaint for child abduction, according to Andalusia’s high court, which oversees all courts in the southern region including the one that has dealt with the case.
In an interview with Italy’s Ansa news agency, he denied any violence. “I want to be able to hold my children again in my arms, I haven’t seen them since last year,” he said.
A Spanish court subsequently decided the children should return to Italy, arguing among other things that the eldest boy was evaluated by psychologists and did not show any indication of not wanting to see his father.
Rivas appealed but this was rejected and the court ordered her to hand over the children on Wednesday, July 26.
‘Defend them’
Footage of Rivas earlier this week showed her in tears as she appealed to the media.
“If they want to steal them from me, I will defend them until my last breath,” she told reporters.
On Wednesday, she never turned up and has remained in hiding ever since with her children.
The case has sparked an outpouring of support for Rivas, not only from fellow residents in Maracena, but further afield in Spain.
Netizens have taken to Twitter to pledge their support with the hashtags #Juanaestaenmicasa (Juana is in my house) or #YoSoyJuana (I am Juana) and a petition launched on Change.org in December 2016 has garnered more than 208,000 signatures.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters “you have to put yourself in the place of this mother” when asked about the case.
“She had to go live in Italy, come back, she’s been assaulted twice, her husband was sentenced by the courts,” he said.
But in the Ansa interview, her ex-partner accused her of organising a media campaign against him.
The court in charge of the case has ordered both parties to appear at a hearing on August 8 to decide how to proceed.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding a child abducted to or from Spain please feel free to contact us 24 / 7. We are always available at contact@abpworld.com or by calling our offices – +1 (805) CHILD-11 (+18052445311)
Police say a Saskatchewan girl abducted from a playground last week was dropped off in a wooded area outside Prince Albert.
Insp. Jason Stonechild says the eight year old walked from the woods to a nearby farm.
“RCMP officers and members from our service immediately attended to this farmyard, where officers were able to confirm that we had located our subject of the Amber Alert,” Stonechild said Wednesday. “The victim was immediately taken to Victoria Hospital by our members for proper assessment.”
An Amber Alert was issued July 4 after the girl disappeared from a Prince Albert school playground.
Police said the girl was playing by herself when a man entered the park. He grabbed her and put her into the back seat of his car. She was found several hours later.
While police were at the farmyard, they received a call from a business in Prince Albert saying they had someone matching the suspect’s description, Stonechild said. Officers arrested the suspect without incident.
Jared John Charles, 19, is facing numerous charges, including kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault and abandoning a child.
f you have any questions or concerns regarding a child abducted to, or from Canada please feel free to contact us 24 / 7. We are always available at contact@abpworld.com or by calling our offices – +1 (805) CHILD-11 (+18052445311)
Two people have been charged after a child was abducted in Elliot Lake.
In a release, the East Algoma Ontario Provincial Police said officers got a call Saturday about “a non-custodial abduction in the Elliot Lake area.”
The suspects appeared Sunday in the Ontario Court of Justice bail court in Sault Ste. Marie. Police are saying little else about the case.
“In order to protect the identity of the children involved, no further information will be provided,”‘ police said. “However, police would like to take this opportunity to remind parents and/or guardians the importance of safety with their children.”
Safety tips for children passed on by police include:
– Know your name, address and phone number(s).
– Learn how and when to call 911.
– If you are scared of someone, run to safety.
– It’s OK to be rude to a grown-up if you feel you are unsafe.
– Learn the difference between an “OK” secret and a “not OK” secret, and beware of an adult that asks you to keep a secret from parents or your guardian.
– Have a “Call List” and know how and when to use it.
– Don’t let anyone on the phone or at the door know that you are home alone.
– If you ever get lost in a mall, ask the closest store clerk for help and then stay where you are until you are found.
– Avoid shortcuts when you are walking from one place to another.
– If you are ever “scooped,” scream, kick, bite and fight as hard as you can to get away. Never trust what the “scooper” tells you.
– Tell your parents or a trusted adult if someone is asking you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable. Listen to your “Uh Oh” voice.
– Always ask your parents for permission before getting on the Internet.
– Never talk to people online without your parent’s permission.
– As for parents/guardians, work hard to establish trust and communication with your children. Ensure you know how to find them at all times.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding an abducted child please feel free to contact us 24 / 7. We are always available at contact@abpworld.com or by calling our offices – +1 (805) CHILD-11 (+18052445311)
“ACCORDING to the law a parent cannot kidnap their own child,” said the Durban lawyer, Andile Dakela, who is representing one of the suspects involved in the baby abduction case that dominated headlines this weekend.
It sparked a province-wide manhunt by police, various security organisations and even civilians, all looking for the one-month old infant.
The baby girl ‘went missing’ around noon on Friday, 10 March and by the early hours of Sunday, 12 March, she had been found. Three people were arrested in connection with the incident but only two people appeared in a packed Durban Magistrate’s Court today – the child’s mother and a man the police have named as her ‘boyfriend’.
Speaking to the Northglen News, Dakela who is representing the ‘boyfriend’, said that his client believes he is the child’s biological father. When asked whether his case rested on this fact, Dakela said that this was incorrect to assume and that he was merely following the instructions of his client. “I will cross that river when I get there,” the attorney said.
Just 10 minutes into proceedings, a paternity test was requested and the case was postponed pending DNA samples to be taken as well as for the State to complete a list of charges.
Earlier on Monday morning, reports by police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, were that additional charges such as the contravention of the children’s act and misuse of state resources, could be brought against the suspects.
A special prosecutor has also been reported to have been assigned to the case and that the baby is currently in a place of safety and being cared for by the Department of Social Development.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding an abducted child please feel free to contact us 24 / 7. We are always available at contact@abpworld.com or by calling our offices – +1 (805) CHILD-11 (+18052445311)
Although African Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population, we account for 37 percent of the missing in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s database under the age of 18 and 26 percent above the age of 18. Cases involving African Americans also tend to receive less media coverage than missing Whites, with missing men of color getting even less attention.
NewsOne has partnered with the Black and Missing Foundation to focus on the crisis of missing African Americans.
To be a part of the solution, NewsOne will profile missing persons and provide tips about how to keep your loved ones safe and what to do if someone goes missing.
“She lost her life over nothing, over pettiness,” Marshaun Burnett, 11, a resident said at a televised community forum.
Shavon was last see alive on June 28 in front of her home in Lancanster, Texas. According to Lancaster Police, one of Shavon’s family members received a call from a man saying that the teen was being held against her will. The unknown caller also threatened to harm Shavon, the Dallas Morning Newsreports.
Police identified four persons of interest in the case but Shavon was found shot to death from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body on July 2, four days after police issued an Amber Alert. Michael Titus, 19, one of the original persons of interest, was also found dead in the same abandoned home in Oak Cliff, a Dallas neighborhood.
Desmond Jones, 21,who led police to Shavon and Titus’ corpses and who also allegedly told police he was there when Shavon was kidnapped and Titus was killed, is facing charges of felony aggravated kidnapping for ransom or reward and failing to report a crime, the Dallas Morning Newsreports.
The paper also reports that Devontae Owens and Laquon Wilkerson are facing aggravated kidnapping charges for plotting and participating in Shavon’s kidnapping. Darius Fields is being held on a federal weapons charge. Kendall Perkins, accused of stealing the marijuana that led to Shavon’s kidnapping, is being held on aggravated robbery charges. Laporshya Polley, from whom the marijuana was allegedly stolen, is being held on drug possession and evidence tampering charges.
A total of six people connected with the case have been arrested on aggravated robbery, kidnapping and drug charges but no one has yet been charged with Shavon’s and Titus’ murders.
But Lancaster Police Chief Samuel Urbanski told Fox 4 charges could soon be filed in the death.
“In this instance we want to be with accuracy not speed,” Urbanski said. “The majority of the investigation is complete, its the filling that we’re looking at again. We want to make sure that we’re accurate in our filing.”
Lancaster’s officers were hit hard with grief while investigating the case.
“I took it personally. My daughter turns 13 next week,” Urbanski told the television news outlet. “I attended the funeral of Shavon, I felt like I knew Shavon. Everything her family said, I personally took it to heart and I will never forget.”
Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, called Shavon’s death one of the most “senseless” she has seen while helping families of the missing.
“It’s such a bizarre case. We don’t see many cases like this,” Black and Missing Foundation co-founder Natalie Wilson told NewsOne. “We see parental abductions and young girls and boys being abducted for sex trafficking, but abduction to pay a drug debt is highly unusual.”
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“It’s such a bizarre case. We don’t see many cases like this,” Wilson told NewsOne. “We see parental abductions and young girls and boys being abducted for sex trafficking, but abduction to pay a drug debt is highly unusual.”
She added, “They kidnapped a murdered a child who had nothing to do with that situation. We are deeply saddened by the murder of Shavon. We hope that those involved are punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
If you have any questions or concerns regarding an abducted child please feel free to contact us 24 / 7. We are always available at contact@abpworld.com or by calling our offices – +1 (805) CHILD-11 (+18052445311)
DUBAI: Taking a leaf from Zainab Fawad’s book, a Dubai-based divorcee has resumed her fight to wrest custody of her three minor daughters from her Pakistan-based husband.
Lithuanian Maimouna Liskaus-kaite, 36, has not seen her girls since April 4, 2011 when her husband of seven years took their daughters out on the pretext of taking them to Safa Park but instead flew with them to Pakistan and disappeared.
Maimouna was still reeling from the shock when she was couriered divorce papers from Pakistan four days later and her in-laws asked her to vacate their Jumeirah villa.
“Like Zainab, I also went through hell but never lost hope. Our stories are similar. We were both abandoned by our husbands and separated from our children. So I thought if an Indian woman can get her kids back from Pakistan then why can’t I?” she said, referring to the November 17, 2016 XPRESS story which helped Zainab reunite with her twin boys, Muzammil and Mustafa after nearly three years.
The reunion is now the subject of an upcoming Bollywood movie.
Maimouna said the dramatic turnaround in Zainab’s life has steeled her resolve to continue her fight for justice.
Maimouna said she is planning to travel to Multan in Pakistan’s Punjab province and look for her daughters Mariam, 13, Aisha, 11, and Amna, 9 where the Lithuanian passport-holders are believed to be living with their father and stepmother.
“Let’s not forget that the kids are Lithuanian nationals. They can’t be living in Pakistan and I will do whatever it takes to get them back as I have a court order granting me their custody.
“My visa application to Pakistan was rejected so I am applying all over again. I have had several meetings with officials at the Pakistan consulate in Dubai in recent days and am hopeful of a positive outcome,” said Maimouna as she wiped tears and flipped through a photo album of her daughters.
“See how they bedraggled they look,” she said pointing to a group photograph of Mariam, Aisha, Amna sent to her by an anonymous source from Pakistan a few years ago.
“This is the only image I have of them after their abduction,” added Maimona who now teaches at pre-school in Dubai.
“The pain of separation from my girls was so intense, I almost lost my sanity. But being in the midst of children helped. Some of the kids are the age of Amna who was just three years old when she was snatched away,” added Maimouna who also runs a Facebook group ‘Looking for My 3 Daughters’ to drum up support for her cause.
THE STORY SO FAR:
1996: Maimouna, formerly known as Edita, meets Dubai-born Pakistan national J.S. while he is studying medicine in her home country Lithuania.
January 2, 2003: She embraces Islam and her husband gives her a new name — Maimouna
January 17, 2004: The couple get married in Lithuania
October 2004-April 2008: The couple has three daughters
— Mariam, Aisha and Amna
December 2010: The family travels to Dubai to live with
J.S.’ father in his Jumeirah villa
April 4, 2011: Maimouna’s hubby tells her he’s taking their
daughters to a park but instead flies with them to Pakistan
April 8, 2011: Maimouna is divorced from Pakistan
December 17, 2013: Dubai Court grants her custody of her kids.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding a child abducted to, or from Dubai please feel free to contact us 24 / 7. We are always available at contact@abpworld.com or by calling our offices – +1 (805) CHILD-11 (+18052445311)
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