A WOMAN and her son arrived in Cork yesterday after being separated for 17 months following the abduction in Germany of the boy by his father.
Mrs Christine Wagner, who is in her 30s, and her son, Tom (8), touched down at Cork Airport yesterday afternoon from American Samoa. They were greeted by friends and the MEP, Ms Mary Banotti, who as an EU Mediator for Transnationally Abducted Children played a crucial role in bringing the saga to a happy conclusion.
Mrs Wagner, who is separated from her husband returned to Ireland from Germany in 1993 and was joined by her son the following year. In July 1995, the boy returned to Germany to holiday with his father, Mr Radke Wagner. Concerned for his safety, Mrs Wagner travelled to Germany where she was granted custody by the courts. However, Tom and his father disappeared, and it was only last Christmas she learned he had taken the boy to Western Samoa.
Mrs Wagner, with the aid of friends and Mr George Barter, a Cork travel agent, made the journey to Western Samoa in an effort to get her son. In the meantime, Ms Banotti and colleagues in the European Parliament, worked to garner international support. One problem was that Western Samoa is not a party to the Hague Convention, and therefore was not obliged by international law to return the boy.
While in Western Samoa a court hearing was held without her knowledge, giving custody of Tom to his father. However, the ruling was overturned last week, and within hours, mother and son were on their way to American Samoa, from where they travelled to Cork.
Speaking to waiting reporters, Mrs Wagner asked them to respect their privacy. She added: "The abduction of my son over a year and a half ago has been a deeply traumatic event, both for him and me. The long separation that - has ensued means that it will probably take a while for Tom to settle down again, and for that reason, I would ask you - to respect, my request for privacy for Tom.
Asked how she felt during the separation from her son, Mrs Wagner said she had been very sad and empty. "It is difficult to say," she added, on her feelings now for her former partner. "I'm going to take it a day at a time. Tom will go to school in Cork - we're just relieved that it's over," she said.
Ms Banotti said there had been fears Mrs Wagner would not make it safely to Cork with her son. There was the threat that Mr Wagner would take his son again, and these difficulties were compounded by the 12 hour time difference between Western Samoa and Ireland.
Colleagues in the European Parliament, she added, had been extremely supportive in keeping up the pressure to have the boy returned to his mother. The case was one of about 100 which occurred in Ireland each year. The figure includes children being taken into and out of the jurisdiction.
It cost Mrs Wagner £9,000 to get Tom back and friends in Cork have opened a special account for her at AIB, 66 South Mall, to help her defray those expenses.