A two-year-old boy has returned to Malta on the order of a French court, which found that his mother had kept him in France unlawfully after the family were there over Christmas.
The boy was born in Malta and was living here with his Maltese father and Irish mother.
He returned on Wednesday, five months after leaving for what was meant to be a holiday with his unmarried parents.
In its May 3 judgment, the Civil Court of Marseille noted that the couple had cohabited since August 2018. Each had their own accommodation, with the father based in Malta and the mother having a registered home in Monaco. Their child was born on December 21, 2019.
At no time was it envisaged that the father would return to Malta alone without his partner and their son- Civil court of Marseille
The mother stayed in Malta at length with the child because of medical complications she experienced after childbirth and also because the global COVID-19 pandemic prevented her from returning to France.
At the end of 2021, they went on a family Christmas holiday. They left Malta on December 22 and had tickets to return on January 7. The mother has a home in France and her father lives there.
However, the day before they were due to fly back, the mother fled with the child in her father’s car.
International abduction
On January 8, the boy’s father, through his lawyer, Robert Thake, brought an action before the Maltese central authority to denounce the child’s international abduction.
The French court noted that, under Article 3 of the Hague Convention, the removal or retention of a child is considered illegal if it breaches the rights of custody attributed under the law of the state in which the child is habitually resident immediately before the removal.
Under Maltese law, the two parents were exercising their right of custody in January 2022.
The court found that Malta was the child’s place of habitual residence as he was born in Malta, a country of which he was a citizen. He had regular medical checks and attended a kindergarten here.
Despite the mother insisting that she was a resident of Monaco, the court concluded that she was living in Malta.
“These elements, therefore, make it possible to determine that the child’s habitual residence was in Malta, that the family had in no way envisaged a permanent departure from Malta, that the trip at the end of 2021 was temporary for the Christmas holidays and that at no time was it envisaged that the father would return to Malta alone without his partner and their son,” the court found.
By leaving with the child without giving any news since, the mother had “undeniably unlawfully removed the child from his habitual place of residence”, the court ruled, ordering the child’s return.
The mother has filed an appeal.