Terrified of losing her immediate family, Ella Bridge, 10, locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out until the police, attempting to reunite her with her biological mother in the UK, left her Sliema home.
We spent all afternoon in the car driving around the island until the court upheld our request
The police would only leave after her father, Richard, presented them with documents proving that on Monday the court had upheld his request to keep Ella in Malta pending tomorrow’s hearing in the Constitutional Court.
The court urgently issued an interim order on Monday afternoon after the Bridge family members were informed by neighbours that police officers, accompanied by two civilians, had turned up outside their door while they were out shopping.
“We spent all afternoon in the car driving around the island until the court upheld our request. We were too frightened to return home until we had the papers in hand,” Mr Bridge said.
The protracted legal battle Mr Bridge is entangled in with his ex-wife, Nicki Lee, over their daughter, was first featured in last weekend’s The Sunday Times.
The Family Court had upheld a request from Ms Lee for her daughter to be returned to the UK. Through an unfortunate turn of events, the appeal against this decision was considered null and void due to a procedural technicality as it was filed two days late.
Ms Lee’s request was made in terms of provisions on the international abduction of minors listed in the Hague Convention.
She had successfully argued that her permission was needed before her daughter was taken away from the UK.
The convention, however, also provides that if one parent, in this case the mother, was not exercising her right of custody, taking a child out of the country would not be an offence.
In a last bid to keep Ella in Malta, Mr Bridge’s lawyer, Aron Mifsud Bonnici, filed a constitutional case last Friday, claiming a breach of the girl’s right to a fair hearing.
In Monday’s urgent request it was argued that, even though the authorities were aware of the pending constitutional procedures, the police still turned up outside the Bridges’ residence to take the girl away before she could have her voice heard.
The application argues that the girl’s express wishes were never properly put across.
She had quickly integrated in Maltese life, attending St Clare College primary school, picking up the language and becoming part of the Malta Girl Guides, it says.
“It will be a grave prejudice for Ella to be taken away from Malta and sent to an uncertain future in England,” the application says, pointing out that Ms Lee had never lived alone with Ella and “suffered from a psychological disorder” that had led to their marriage breakdown.
“Ella has no connection with the UK, except her mother, who abandoned her and who has never made any contact with her, never bothered to visit her in Malta, not even sending a simple card,” according to the application.
The Labour Party spokesman on the family, Justyne Caruana, insisted that children should be guaranteed a hearing by the courts if a decision was being taken that would impact their lives.
The children’s right to voice their views was not always put into practice, she said, referring to Ella’s case.
Dr Caruana insisted that the law should guarantee that children were heard by the courts.
The family has set up a Facebook support page at www.facebook.com/groups/356963554374088.