Custody in France

Press, 27 October 1977, Page 12

Custody in France

PA Wellington. A Wellington doctor has legal custody in New Zealand of his two children, who were abducted for a second time two weeks ago, but his wife appears to have been granted their custody in France. This has been revealed by Dr John Robinson, father of the two boys — Julian, aged five, and Mark, aged six. He aiso disclosed that earlier this vear he took the boys out of France after the first abduction, before the result of a court hearing held three days earlier was announced. The case was heard before the Paris matrimonial court on April 21. The decision was reserved and the Magistrate indicated that Dr Robinson shoud be given access to the children. Three days later Dr Robinson left France with his children to return to New Zealand. He has released the text of a letter to his French lawyer, written on April 24, in which he expressed a fear that his wife would again have the children abducted from Wellington. The children disappeared in December, 1976, after Dr Robinson had been awarded custody by New Zealand courts and after be allowed them a three-week holiday with his wife. This time, after the boys had been almost Six month in New Zealand, they were last seen on their way to school in Kowhai Street, Wellington.

xmerpol, and the police in France and Australia, have been asked to help with inquiries into the latest abduction. Dr Robinson said yesterday that, although he was not certain he believed that the French courts had granted custody of the children to his wife. “On the face of it she appears to have custody; all the documents I have seem to indicate this,” he said. Dr Robinson emphasised that at the time he took the boys out of France, no court decision had been made.

“I legally had as many rights as she (his wife) in France, and thus I did not break the law by my action,” he said. Dr Robinson repeated that he would return to France “when the time comes, ready to work towards a more satisfactory arrangment and to recover the custody of the boys.” He said he had the backing of his local member of Parliament (Mr K. M. Comber) who had sent a further letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys) urging action through the Rench Foreign Ministry.