A German woman, suspected of trying to abduct her three-year-old son last week, will be subject to a European arrest warrant, Times of Malta has learnt.
The woman had left Malta just hours after assaulting another woman with a taser gun during the attempted kidnapping.
The woman, Petra Nemet, has also been placed on Malta’s wanted list as well as on the national “stop list” so that she will be stopped at any point of entry or exit on the island.
The Maltese police are in the process of issuing a European arrest warrant.
Sources said an investigation began soon after the police were informed about the attempted abduction on November 15.
The German woman, who had abducted her son from her former partner last year, allegedly used a stun gun in an attempt to snatch the child, this time from the arms of the man’s girlfriend.
The incident was captured on closed circuit television cameras and the footage is being used in the investigations.
The footage, which was also uploaded on timesofmalta.com, shows the Maltese partner of the child’s German father, Nico Leonhardt, park her car outside their home and the child climbing out of the back seat at about 3pm.
The young boy, who lives with his father following a court order granting him custody, is seen outside the main gate when, suddenly, a dark-coloured car pulls up nearby and two women run out. The Maltese woman grabs hold of the child and runs while the other two women give chase.
This was not the first time Ms Nemet turned up outside their Żabbar home. In May she was arrested by police for harassing the couple.
Sources close to the investigation told Times of Malta that the German woman left Malta soon after the incident and flew to Budapest, Hungary.
The Maltese police are also in contact with their Hungarian counterparts. Once traced and brought to Malta, Ms Nemet will face charges related to the attack and the use of a stun gun.
The sources said the woman accompanying her was a German national who has been identified by police. She too has been placed on Malta’s wanted list as the police want to interrogate her over the incident.
According to a psychological assessment report drawn up on request of the courts in Poland, where the mother had been stopped by police last December following a Shenghen alert, Ms Nemet kept the child isolated and in an unhygienic environment.
Court proceedings in Poland had started in terms of the Hague Convention on child abduction. The Polish court eventually decided that the Maltese Family Court was justified in granting sole care and custody of the boy to his German father, Mr Leonhardt.
The detailed psychological report, seen by this newspaper, had been commissioned by the Local Court, Family and Juveniles Division No 3 in Chelm to establish whether sending the child to live with the father was in his best interest.
Carried out by the Family Diagnostic Consultation Centre, the report, dated February 3, looks into the parents’ relationship with the child based on several interviews and observation sessions. During the time when the child was in Poland he spent several weeks in hospital being treated for several conditions, including asthma and pneumonia.
He was then moved to the Children’s Home in Chelm until the court decided on the matter. Initially the mother was allowed to stay there but she was then ordered to leave.
The psychological assessment concludes that, while the boy would feel the absence of his mother, given that she was the only stable presence throughout his life, the Maltese court was right to grant custody to the father.