Woman refuses to facilitate in-person access as she is ‘terrified’ child will be abducted

A woman who took her child to Ireland without the father’s knowledge has refused to facilitate in-person access in Northern Ireland, saying she was “terrified” he would take the child back to another country.The father of the young girl, who launched child abduction proceedings in the High Court after the woman brought her to Ireland late last year, has been unable to secure a visa to travel to the State.Access has been facilitated online, though this was described by Judge Nuala Jackson as “extremely suboptimal”, adding that a “girl of that age should be seeing her father every day”.The woman, who is Irish and has since divorced the man, has alleged physical and mental abuse, including coercive control, during their marriage, which the father denies.READ MOREGráinne Lee, the man’s barrister, said he was “very eager” to travel to Northern Ireland under a UK visa to see his daughter in person.Several measures were proposed to facilitate the access, including the involvement of Supervised Access Ireland and the man’s passport being retained by his solicitor.However, the woman’s barrister, Tabitha Wood, said the woman felt “very strongly” that no access take place outside of the Republic as she was “extremely frightened” her daughter would be taken to another country.Wood said in that event, the chances of getting the young girl returned from the country, which is not a signatory to The Hague Convention and is influenced by “sharia law”, would be “extremely slim”.“With the best will in the world, this court wouldn’t be able to do anything, and that’s what my client is terrified of,” she said.The woman subsequently told the court she would appeal its decision should it order her to bring the child to Northern Ireland.The woman claimed her ex-husband does not want to her to see her child “ever again”.“He will do whatever it takes. She will be on a plane or a boat, and she will be out of this jurisdiction and I’ll never see her again,” she said.“I am terrified,” she said, adding that she could not “take the risk”.Noting the woman’s concerns that her child could be abducted, Jackson said “on the height” of the father’s case, his child “has been abducted”.Lee argued the woman’s concern was a scenario “like in the movies”, adding that she believed the woman had no intention of facilitating in-person access in the Republic either, should he be granted a visa.It was also suggested the woman could be “next door” during the in-person access in the North, though she said she was “not satisfied” her child’s safety could be “100 per cent guaranteed”.After questioning from both Lee and the judge, the woman denied contacting the Irish Immigration Service, or having knowledge of any contact being made regarding her ex-husband’s visa application.Asked by Lee if she would write a “letter of invite” to support the visa application and facilitate the father’s access in the Republic, the woman said this would be “inappropriate” to do “at this stage”.“You just don’t want him to see his daughter,” Lee said, which the woman denied.Jackson did not make an order on Wednesday and adjourned the matter to a later date. She asked the father’s solicitor to make enquiries with An Garda Síochána as to what measures might be applied in Northern Ireland, such as a Child Rescue Ireland (CRI) alert.The judge noted that both sides of the proceedings “vehemently denied” one another’s allegations. “Fundamentally”, she said, she must have regard to the safety and welfare of the child.