Dino Luzzatto has been receiving threatening phone calls from strangers who believe he abducted his children from his ex-wife’s Portugal home after she submitted an inflammatory post on Facebook.

All of a sudden I go to work and get death threats. I don’t answer my phone anymore

Armed with court documents, Mr Luzzatto said he wanted the public to know he took his children with the blessing of the child protection authorities of Portugal after their mother took them there without telling him a year ago.

“Throughout this whole year, she refused to let me even speak to the children… It’s bothering that she told everyone I went to Portugal and kidnapped the children… I went there based on a court case and a decision by social services,” he said.

On February 18, Mr Luzzatto, accompanied by his 18-year-old daughter, travelled to Portugal to pick up his other two children – an 11-year-old girl and four-year-old boy.

He collected them from school accompanied by Portuguese court officials, police and a psychologist, he said.

Later that day his ex-wife created a Facebook group in which she claimed he took the children illegally. Within a few days the group attracted about 900 members, some Maltese.

The group was seen by The Sunday Times but a few days later it was shut down. This newspaper also sent questions to the mother on Friday, through her personal Facebook page, but no replies were received by yesterday evening.

“Ordinarily I’d let it go but, because she set up a group, people are now making comments about what they’d do to me if they find me alone in a room... All of a sudden I go to work and get death threats. I don’t answer my phone any more… I can’t carry on like this. It’s also not fair on the kids,” he said adding that he filed a police report.

Mr Luzzatto, 39, holds Italian/South African citizenship and moved to Malta with his wife and their three children in July 2010. Following marital problems the couple decided to start divorce proceedings that are still going on.

“On the weekend of March 2, 2012, she told me she was taking the two younger children to Gozo for the weekend but instead she ran away from Malta to Portugal with the two younger children and simply left our eldest daughter behind,” Mr Luzzatto said.

He filed a report at the Sliema police station and was advised to go to the Italian Embassy. From there he was referred to social services – the Appoġġ agency – which communicated with its Portuguese counterpart.

A case was launched in the Portuguese courts which found in his favour. The mother appealed but the appeal was dismissed. Documents seen by The Sunday Times show that he was told to collect the children from Portugal.