Cypriot court sides with dad in New York

A Greek Cypriot mother who was accused of abducting her son from the United States four years ago lost her appeal on Wednesday, a deadline set for the child to fly back to New York.

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According to local media, a Paphos district judge rejected a motion to delay a return order of a young boy back to his father in USA, saying the mother failed to present valid reasons for keeping the child in Cyprus.

The mother, who argued she left New York and flew to Cyprus with her child to flee her abusive husband, had requested more time to file a child custody case.

But the court rejected her claims, with local media saying the father’s lawyer rejected the allegations of abuse and further blamed the mother for putting the child in difficult circumstances.

The father has reportedly rejected all allegations made by the mother, with the court siding with the dad who said he couldn’t believe that his wife actually left the country after leaving home.

The mother arranged through a network to stay away from home for some weeks before getting a Cypriot passport for her son and flying back to Cyprus together.

Passports from the Republic of Cyprus can be issued only with the consent of both parents, while the father raised questions as to how his US citizen son could have flown on a foreign passport without his consent.

The mother’s defence attorneys argued there were several reasons for delaying the return of the boy to America, including his ties to Cyprus and the pandemic.

A total of eight reasons listed one by one were rejected by the court, meaning the 4-year-old boy will need to catch a flight to New York no later than Wednesday.

Last week the mother, a clinical psychology graduate, made media rounds to garner support from the Cypriot public, saying she left New York with her son back in November 2017, when the child had just turned one year old, citing spousal, mental, and physical abuse in the home.