Recherche de décisions

The Father was born in Egypt but was an Italian national. The mother was a Moldovan national. The parents began a relationship in Italy in 2016. They moved to the United Kingdom for work in 2018 and had a child in London in 2019 (age 5 at the time of the hearing). The family moved to Italy when the child was 6 months old and they lived there until the mother took the child to the UK on 13 December 2022.

The father filed an application under the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention for the return of the child. 

The mother alleged that the father was threatening, controlling and coercive and subjected her to physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse.

Return refused. There was a grave risk that returning the child to Italy would expose her to physical or psychological harm or otherwise place her in an intolerable position for the purposes of Article 13(1)(b). This risk could not be adequately and effectively mitigated by protective measures. 

The Court considered the interaction between Article 13(1)(b) and Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR and concluded that there will be cases where it is appropriate for the Court to consider the case-law on Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR when conducting the Article 13(1)(b) analysis.

The Judge found that the mother had been a victim of domestic abuse by the father, that she was suffering from a mental disorder which would likely deteriorate on return to Italy, and that the father had acted in breach of a non-molestation order. A return to Italy would place the child at a grave risk of harm which could not be adequately and effectively mitigated by protective measures.