A Maltese man is desperately urging the authorities in the Czech Republic to let him see his son, after he claimed he was abducted by his Russian partner during a family holiday in Prague a month ago.

Anthony Busuttil – who hasn’t spoken to his son Adam since his partner disappeared from their hotel room with the child – arrived in Malta earlier today after an urgent trip back to Prague to attempt to gain access to his son. 

A photo of Adam before the 'abduction'.

The Maltese courts have already granted Mr Busuttil sole custody of his child, which should have allowed him to bring him back to Malta, where he was born and still lived and went to school before he was taken.

The Czech courts, however, have not yet recognised the judgements of the Maltese court and are currently refusing to grant Mr Busuttil even temporary access to his son until the matter is resolved, a process which could take months.

While in Prague, Mr Busuttil caught a glimpse of his son once outside a police station – the only way he knows he is still in the country – but when he tried to speak to him, the boy’s mother grabbed his hand and ran off.

“I feel helpless and disappointed,” he told the Times of Malta outside the airport.

“To see your son, terrified of you, pulled away by his mother, what else can you feel?”

Mr Busuttil’s lawyers are now pushing for the case to be heard by the Maltese courts, since his son is a Maltese citizen and resident, but Mr Busuttil is asking for regular access and contact time until the issue is decided. “I’ll move to Prague and live there if I have to,” he said.

“I just want to see my son.”

His fear is that the child’s mother – who took the boy’s passport when she ran away – could take him back to Russia or another country where securing access or the boy’s return would be even more difficult. Asked what message he would pass on to his son if he could, Mr Busuttil said: “I love you more than my own life. Come home.”