A German woman was arrested outside the Żabbar home of her former partner after she turned up with a television crew to see their three-year-old son – who she abducted last year.
Police arrested Petra Nemet over claims that she harassed Nico Leonhardt, who is also German, and his Maltese partner earlier this month.
The arrest, witnessed by this newspaper, was made when Ms Nemet turned up outside the couple’s home with a television crew from German television station RTL.
The crew filmed Ms Nemet as she knocked on the gate and walked into the front garden of the house demanding to see her son. The boy lives with his father following a court order granting him care and custody.
After some time police arrived on the scene and arrested Ms Nemet, who shouted to the cameras that she was only standing in the road and this could not constitute harassment.
Police sources said Ms Nemet was arrested over claims that she had turned up at the house earlier this month and barged into the property before running off.
Police released her a few hours later, but they will continue their investigation into the matter, the sources said.
In May 2013, the Maltese courts upheld a request by Mr Leonhardt to grant him the care and custody of the child.
In his court application, Mr Leonhardt had noted that he and Ms Nemet moved to Malta in April 2010 and had a baby in May 2011.
All I want is the best for my son and for the court’s decisions to be respected
Towards the end of 2012, Ms Nemet moved out of their home with the child without alerting him. In the application, Mr Leonhardt also said he was worried about his son’s wellbeing due to Ms Nemet’s “psychological state”.
The case, which was extensively covered by the German media, took a complex twist when Ms Nemet started travelling between Malta and Germany.
This led Mr Leonhardt – who said he never knew where his son was – to file a child abduction report in both countries.
As a result, an international alert was issued under the Schengen Information System to prevent the child leaving the Schengen area.
In December 2013 it turned out that Ms Nemet left Germany and went to Warsaw where Polish police stopped her on the Ukrainian border on the strength of the Schengen alert.
Court proceedings started in Poland in terms of the Hague Convention on child abduction. The court ordered that the boy be returned to Malta and this took place in March.
Sources close to the case said that Ms Nemet does not have visiting rights at the moment as she would first have to apply to the Maltese courts.
Speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta yesterday, Mr Leonhardt said: “All I want is the best for my son and for the court’s decisions to be respected.”