American man `abducts` own children and escapes to Malta

An American man wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation abducted his children and ran off to Malta, his wife told a court yesterday.

Monique Grecula said her husband, from whom she was separated, had absconded from the US with the children on November 26, 2000.

She had since learnt that her husband Ronald was in Malta with the children and had obtained an injunction to stop him leaving the island again with them.

Mrs Grecula gave the details of the case in a suit she filed in the Civil Court for the confirmation of the warrant and the custody order of an American court.

The case is being heard with urgency by Mr Justice Raymond Pace.

She explained how her children, Berenger Julian, 10, and Emilie Gigi, 3, used to live with her in Pennsylvania after she and her husband were separated.

She and her husband were awarded joint custody of the children on October 26, 2000, with primary physical custody vested in her and access rights given to the children.

Mrs Grecula said her husband abducted the children on November 26, 2000, while exercising his access rights, thus arbitrarily depriving her of her rights over the children and depriving the children of their mother.

After the abduction, a court in Pennsylvania had awarded her exclusive custody.

Mrs Grecula claimed her husband was a fugitive from justice and a number of arrest warrants had been issued against him by the US courts and the FBI.

When she learnt her husband and children were in Malta she had obtained a warrant of prohibitory injunction to prevent him leaving the island with the children.

Mrs Grecula called on the court to award her care and custody of the children and to authorise her return to the US with them.

She also requested the court to confirm the judgment of the Pennsylvania court awarding her full custody and the warrant of prohibitory injunction issued against her husband by a local court.

Dr Aron Mifsud Bonnici was counsel to Mrs Grecula.