A British man, whose eight-year-old daughter was “abducted” by her Lithuanian mother a year ago, is reaching out to media across Europe – including Malta – in a desperate attempt to find his little girl.
“My daughter is missing… I am asking for people in Europe to help me find my daughter… I know she’s with her mother but that doesn’t make it right. It’s illegal. I just want my little girl to come home from where we can make any arrangements,” Christian Penwill, 43, told Times of Malta from his home in Brighton.
Mr Penwill said that the UK courts issued a European Arrest Warrant for the arrest of his former partner Inesa Ivanova, 40, who took their daughter Nina, out of the UK without his consent and in breach of two court orders.
The Sussex Police confirmed that a European Arrest Warrant has been granted by Brighton magistrates for the “arrest of a named person on a charge of child abduction. There is no suggestion at this time that the child in question is at any known risk of harm.”
In a detailed statement, Mr Penwill explained that his relationship with Nina’s mother ended in the summer of 2018. In November that year, she moved out of their family home with their daughter while he was away for the weekend. From that day on, Ms Ivanova restricted access to his daughter, he said.
Meanwhile, during a visit to Lithuania in December that year, Nina’s British passport was lost and a Lithuanian passport was acquired without his knowledge.
The mother has used parental alienation to remove me from my daughter’s life completely
At a court hearing in Brighton, attended by both parents on January 22, 2019, the mother was ordered to surrender Nina’s Lit-huanian passport to the Brighton court by January 24 and to allow the father unsupervised access.
“On the morning of January 24, 2019, having fears about my daughter’s whereabouts and not trusting my ex-partner, I checked with Nina’s school to verify my daughter’s attendance.
“The school informed me that Nina was no longer attending the school… I immediately informed the police and, on the evening of January 24, 2019, I was notified by the police that my ex-partner had fled the UK during the evening of January 23 taking with her my daughter, and both had flown to Vilnius, Lithuania,” he said.
Mr Penwill continued his legal battle in Lithuania. Court hearings took place in Vilnius where the courts ordered the return of Nina to the UK.
Meanwhile, on August 28, the UK Royal Courts of Justice gave Mr Penwill emergency custody orders to travel to any country and collect his daughter.
However, by then, Ms Ivanova had disappeared with his daughter and their whereabouts are unknown.
“As Nina’s father, I am incredibly worried about my daughter’s welfare and security… the mother has used parental alienation to remove me from my daughter’s life completely… I had been her main carer since she was born, and I played a proactive and hands-on role in her upbringing.
“Nina loved her school, her friends and extended paternal family. She was happy and would skip to school. To be at school one day and the next be hustled on a plane to a country in the night where she did not speak the language would have been traumatic. There were no goodbyes to anyone,” he wrote.
If you have information, you can contact Brighton Police on +44 01273 404041 or send an email to helpfindmynina@gmail.com.