Runaway mother jailed in Tonga [1]
Thursday, December 11, 2003 - 12:23. Updated on Sunday, May 11, 2014 - 10:58.
An Australian woman, Mandy Millar, was ordered to serve a 14 day prison sentence in Tonga for contempt of court, during a custody battle over her four year old daughter.
The custody battle began in Australia between Millar and a French national, Vincent Gorche, over their daughter Kayla Millar Gorche.
Millar who had fled to Vava'u in northern Tonga, with the child, failed to comply with a Nuku'alofa Supreme Court order of November 18 to return with child to Australia.
The Supreme Court issued another court order on November 25 for Millar's arrest and at the same time granted Gorche temporary custody over Kayla, on the condition that he return her to Australia on the earliest available flight.
Miller...s counsel in Tonga, Laki Niu, said that the couple were involved in a defacto relationship, which ended with the mother refusing the father any visiting rights for the child.
The matter was taken to the Federal Magistrate's Court of Australia where Vincent was granted the right to visit Kayla. However Millar took Kayla and went to Fiji, later moving on to Tonga. Millar feared that her child might get abused by Vincent if he was granted custody, her counsel said.
Gorche filed an application in the Supreme Court of Tonga for the child to be returned to Australia so the matter could be settled there.