A Northern Irish politician arrived in Malta yesterday to support one of his constituents in her custody battle with her Maltese husband in court today.

All I want is for my child’s voice to be heard in court

Jim Wells, a member of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly, said he came to Malta to “give any assistance I can to my constituent as I know the court case will be extremely difficult for her”.

His constituent, from County Down, will appear in court hoping to be granted joint custody of her 10-year-old boy, who is living in Birżebbuġa with his Maltese father. The Times is not naming those involved to protect the child’s identity.

Speaking to this newspaper, the mother said: “All I want is for my child’s voice to be heard in court.”

She insisted her boy was “desperate” to live with her and her parents in County Down.

The mother is proposing that the boy lives mostly in Northern Ireland but spends the bulk of his Easter, summer and Christmas holidays with his father in Malta, as well as granting the father access when he is in the UK.

Mr Wells described this offer as “generous”. But the father told The Times: “I will fight to my death to ensure he stays in Malta.”

Asked whether the boy would prefer to live in Northern Ire-land, the father said: “I don’t believe that.”

But even if that was the case, “he is 10 – he can’t decide where he lives,” the father said.

The couple lived in Northern Ireland for five years before settling in Malta in 1996.

They split up in 2002 shortly after their son was born and the father has been in a relationship with his former employee since then.

Having spent all his life in his mother’s care, an alleged drunken incident in Malta involving his mother in May 2011 had led to him being placed in his father’s custody.

The mother vehemently denied claims of drunkenness to The Times. She said she had been diagnosed with a condition called fibroneuralgia, known to cause cognitive problems that could be mistaken for intoxication.

The father allowed his son to return to Northern Ireland last July for a month’s summer holiday with his mother and grandparents.

But, in a case that made national headlines in Northern Ireland, the father started proceedings under the Hague Convention on the grounds of wrongful detention when the boy was not returned.

His son had started primary school in Northern Ireland and the mother and her parents insisted he preferred to stay there.

According to the Belfast judgment, the boy told the official solicitor he liked living in Malta but did not enjoy living with his father’s girlfriend.

At one stage he started crying and spoke of not wanting to go back to Malta because he would miss his mother.

However, the boy was returned to Malta in November after the Belfast court ruled that the custody case had to be decided here.

He has been living with his father since.

Mr Wells said: “I have no doubt that the young boy wanted to remain in Northern Ireland where he settled in well at school and made new friends. It is extremely unfortunate that the Hague Convention and the courts in both jurisdictions don’t make the wishes of the child a priority when making decisions on custody.”

The Hague Convention gives the Maltese courts pre-eminence in this case because the child was born in Malta.