Kids missing for one year prompts court to issue unusual appeal for help

PHOTOS of three siblings who have been missing for a year have been released for the first time, as the Federal Court issues an unusual public appeal to track down their father.

THE Federal Circuit Court has taken the unusual step of releasing details of a family court dispute in a bid to find three children allegedly abducted by their father more than a year ago.

Jessica, Levi and Blake Moore were declared by the court to have been “parentally abducted”, allegedly by their 40-year-old father Toby James Moore in September last year. The courts issued a formal “recovery order” on August 21 this year which effectively brings in the Australian Federal Police and State police forces nationally to the case.

After receiving details of the order, the AFP late last week began an investigation into the movements of the father and the children last seen in May near Proserpine in North Queensland. There have been no sightings since; the family had originally lived in the Logan and Redland Bay region of Queensland but authorities have not ruled out they could now be interstate.

Levi Moore, aged 12 Picture: Supplied

“The Federal Circuit Court of Australia has issued a recovery order authorising all members of the Australian Federal Police and the State and Territory Police forces to recover Jessica, Levi and Blake and to return them to their mother,” a spokeswoman for the court said.

“The Court has also made a publication order to allow photographs and details of the children and their father to be published in the hope that a member of the public will come forward with information on their possible whereabouts.”

Blake Tobias Moore, aged 11. Picture: Supplied

The court also made the order to release photographs of the children and their father with detailed descriptions. They confirmed the children were “abducted” in September 2017 but listed them under their Family Law matters as technically “missing” since September 13 this year.

The last confirmed sighting of the children was with their father driving in a dark blue coloured Toyota Camry.

The unnamed mother has not seen her children since September last year. Her son Blake just turned 11 last week.

An AFP spokesman declined to comment about specifics of the case including what charges the father may face.

Jessica Kathleen Moore, aged 13. Picture: Supplied

But they said the investigation would look not just at the actions of the father but those who had or are assisting him.

“These abductions can often be traumatic for children at the time, and lead them to require significant assistance once they are recovered,” a spokesman said.

“Abducted children can suffer the loss of contact with their family and friends, miss out on their education and are often hidden away from people around them. They are removed from almost everything familiar to them including their toys, daily routine, their bedroom and sometimes even their name.”

Police are seeking help to find the Moore siblings, who are believed to be with their dad Tobias ‘Toby’ Moore (pictured). Picture: Supplied

The spokesman added: “In addition to breaching court orders issued under the Family Law Act, the abducting parent themselves may also be committing an offence against the law of a State or Territory. Anyone who is found to be providing support to an abducting parent may themselves be committing a serious offence.”

The AFP has had some recent success in such cases with officers recovering five children from three long-term cases of parental abductions in December 2017 and May and August this year. It was not clear how long the children had been declared abducted and where they were found in Australia or overseas.

A spokesman said methods to find the kids in such cases was what you would expect.

“Those investigations utilised similar investigative methodologies that are traditionally used in criminal investigations and when tracing fugitives,” the spokesman said.

There is only one other child listed as missing on the Federal Circuit Court of Australia files, that of 14-year-old Mathieu-Pierre Etienne Macintosh believed taken by his mother Christine Etienne in 2013 with a Hague Convention Return Order to bring him back from France or Belgium.