Mother of two facing extradition pins hopes on judge’s final ruling
Child-abduction charges may lead to jail term in U.K.
A mother of two who has been ordered committed for extradition to the U.K. on charges she abducted her children to Canada is hoping the federal justice minister will set aside the order.
The mother, who cannot be identified because of a publication ban aimed at protecting the two children, was last week ordered extradited by the B.C. Supreme Court.
The next step in the extradition process is for the matter to be referred to Justice Minister Judy Wilson-Raybould for a final decision in the case.
In her ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes found that there was sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable jury properly instructed could find the mom guilty of abducting the children.
The mother claimed that she had not intentionally brought the kids to Canada from the U.K. in 2015, but the judge found there was an alternative inference from the evidence, namely that she had acted deliberately.
The judge noted that her role as an extradition judge required her to only do a limited weighing of the evidence. She dismissed an application from the mom for admission of evidence that the two boys in question, now 16 and 14 years old, wished to stay in Canada and did not want to go back to England.
The judge found that the evidence of the boys’ wishes was not relevant, wouldn’t help her determine whether the mom removed the boys in contravention of a court order and doesn’t suggest the evidence in the extradition case was “manifestly unreliable” or defective.
The couple was married in the U.K. and lived there for 14 years before being divorced in July 2014. Their two boys lived with their mother in Southport, England, with the father sharing parental responsibilities.
In July 2015, the mother applied to a family court to have the boys move with her to Canada, but was denied permission. The court ordered that the boys were not to be removed without their dad’s permission unless it was for a period of less than a month.
In October 2015, the mother, who has Canadian and British citizenship, and her two sons flew to Canada, prompting the dad to launch a protracted legal fight that eventually resulted in the extradition proceedings.
The mother claims she was not in violation of the court order when she brought the kids to Canada and only intended for them to stay for a short vacation before being returned to the U.K. The father took action when the kids had been gone only a week, well within the one-month time period, according to the mother.
She noted that when her husband came to B.C. to enforce a court order to have the kids returned to the U.K., the kids said they didn’t want to go back to England. The children remain in Canada. “So it’s not a genuine abduction case. It’s not even genuinely a kidnapping. There’s nothing about this that is authentic in any sense of the word.”
The mother, who says she faces a possible 15-year jail sentence in the U.K. and remains on bail pending the outcome of the case, says she will ask the minister not to order her to surrender herself for extradition.
She is also planning to appeal the ruling and expects that the court process will continue for some time.
Following the ruling, Gary Botting, the mom’s lawyer, said that what had happened to his client happens in almost every extradition case. He said the case involved a complicated set of issues, but noted the judge found that as long as any inference could be drawn that implied guilt, the mom had to be extradited.
“That’s the state of the law unfortunately in Canada right now. Anybody who faces extradition can be extradited on very, very slight evidence.”
A spokesman for the minister said that it would not be appropriate to comment as the legal proceedings are ongoing.
“It’s not a genuine abduction case.” — MOTHER WHO HAS BEEN ORDERED COMMITTED FOR EXTRADITION TO U.K.