A grandfather, who along with his wife, is accused of kidnapping his daughter's son from the US and taking him back to Ireland, said he would rather see his grandson dead than see him grow up in America, a court heard today.
The Cork couple are facing extradition to the United States and sentences of up to 30 years if convicted of kidnapping their grandson from his Chicago home in 2004.
At the High Court today, counsel for the State described the application by the US authorities for the extradition of maternal grandparents Tim and Ethel Blake, both aged 60, from Cobh, as "legitimate and relevant".
There they are expected to meet charges alleging the aggravated kidnapping of their then nine year old grandson in July 2004.
However, the court also heard that neither the couple's grandson, now aged eleven and back living in the US with his mother, nor his mother wished to see the couple extradited.
The boy's mother wrote to the US authorities pleading with them not to extradite the couple, saying that she knew her parents had done wrong, she loved them very much and did not wish for them to be prosecuted.
The couple "knowingly by deceit" enticed their grandson from Illinois to Dublin in July 2004. The child was returned to his mother, who lives in Winthrop Harbour, a suburb of Chicago, in November 2004.
Today, in applying for an order for the extradition of the couple, Mary Ellen Ring SC, for the State, said this was a "very emotional" matter arising out of protracted family differences. Such problems were not something that can be taken into account in regard to the extradition application.
Aggravated kidnapping is a felony which carries a a minimum sentence of six years and a maximum sentence of 30 years in Illinois State, Mr Justice Michael Peart heard.
In her affidvait, the boy's mother said her parents had visited her in the US in July 2004 and stayed in a hotel nearby. They told her her father was dying and they wanted to spend some time with their grandson. She agreed they could take him out for lunch but asked them to give her their passports.
The couple, however, had duplicate passports with them and when the mother returned to the hotel to collect her son, she could not find him. She contacted the police. She had not given her parents permission to remove the boy from the US and had told them that several times.
Her father had said he would rather see his grandson dead that see him become "an American bastard", she said. The child biologicial father is dead and his mother had met a US Naval officer and moved, with a number of her children, to the States in 1997 and got married.
In 1999, when the Blakes had visited the US with their grandson, his mother had refused to allow him back to Ireland and he remained there, the court was told.
In January 2001, Cork Circuit Court had made the grandson a ward of court and granted his grandaprents joint custody. The court also directed the boy's mother to deliver him back into the care of his grandparents.
In March 2001, the Blakes had taken proceedings in the US under the Hague Convention for the return of the child to Ireland but their application was turned down.
In his affidavit, Mr Blake said no application had been made to have the order of Cork Circuit Court of 2001 discharged or varied.
Mr Blake said he could not understand why the Irish authorities were applying for his extradition in such circumstances. "We were giving effect to an Irish court order. We would never do anything to harm a hair on his head."
Given cardiac, diabetic and other medical problems, Mr Blake said there would be little prospect of him leaving prison if extradited to the US. His consitutional rights to fair procedure, bodily integrity and liberty would be breached, he added. There is now contact between the two families and they speak to the child and his mother on the phone every week, Ms Blake said in her affidavitt.
The case continues tomorrow.