Mother who kidnapped own child in 2011 slams child recovery agencies

A MOTHER who travelled to war-torn Syria to rescue her kidnapped daughter has criticised child recovery agencies which pray on vulnerable parents.

A MOTHER who travelled to war-torn Syria to rescue her kidnapped daughter has criticised child recovery agencies which she says pray on vulnerable parents.

Louise Monaghan, who risked death and jail to rescue daughter May back from her father in 2011, said she believed it was up to parents and not child recovery agencies to get their kids back.

Ms Monaghan said she had contacted a child recovery agency, but found them “disinterested and money oriented”.

Having pursued every legal avenue possible, and together with sister Mandy, they turned to a child recovery agency for help.

But dissatisfied with their response and with time running out, Ms Monaghan knew the only person who could get May home was herself.

The day her daughter was taken back in September 2011, Ms Monaghan’s motherly instinct kicked in.

Something told her ex-husband Mostafa wasn’t bringing her daughter back and she desperately began the search to find her.

When she learned May was taken back to her father’s native Syria from their then home in Cyprus, she knew she had to do everything in her power to get her back.

It was this desperation which led her and Mandy to contact a child recovery agency just as Ms Faulkner had done.

Ms Monaghan said, speaking from her own experience, that they were left extremely disappointed with the agency's muted responses to their situation.

“They came across as disinterested and money oriented,” Ms Monaghan told news.com.au from her home in Ireland.

It was then she knew she had to go to Syria herself, at a time when Syria had plunged into civil war.

While acknowledging the desperation Ms Faulkner faced as a mother separated from her children, Ms Monaghan said she believed child recovery agencies “took advantage of parents stuck in agonising dilemmas”.

It’s a view and reality she admits some parents won’t want to hear.

“We are talking about vast sums of money,” she said.

“Every case is different but I personally feel that it’s the obligation of the left behind parent to act swiftly. Stay calm, open dialogue and say and do anything to get to be with the said child.”

The Dublin-based travel agent said if communication lines were closed the left behind parent must attempt to get as close as possible on their own steam because “ultimately it’s your child so your quest”.

“Strangers won’t ever have that instinctive drive to protect and save your baby.”

Ms Monaghan’s own story is the stuff of Hollywood films, and has already been published into a book called Stolen  in 17 countries, including in Australia.

Irish based film and TV production company Epos Films is also currently looking at bringing her story onto the screen.

She has also appeared in several interviews as well as on Irish chat program The Late Late Show in 2013.

Louise Monaghan, pictured with daughter May and ex-husband Mostafa in happier times.

NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER

Ms Monaghan and May are now happily based in Ireland and the 11-year-old is sociable, outgoing child who loves school, taekwondo and swimming.

Ms Monaghan, who now helps people who have become victims of parental abduction worldwide, said the issue was bigger than most people realised.

“It’s shocking how prevalent child abductions are,” she said.

And while her story had a happy ending, it has been a long and arduous journey for mother and daughter.

When May was taken her father was given access to her three times a week. Not trusting him following years of abuse, she had her daughter’s passport cancelled and had her on an airport stop list.

Local law meant she had to comply with visitation rights or risk jail time.

But exactly how Mostafa managed to get her across to Syria still amazes her and said it showed the need for much tighter border controls, particularly within the EU.

Syrian-born Mostafa took his daughter out of Cyprus, taking her back to his own country.

She later learned as May’s father was due to take her to the beach ahead of her first day at school that he had taken her into northern Cyprus where he flew onto Turkey and then Syria.

Sensing something was wrong she called her ex-husband and when she heard an international tone knew her worst nightmare had come true.

“He took her on the day she was meant to start school for the first time,” she told news.com.au.

“I had just been diagnosed with a serious degenerative condition. I was weak and he pounced. He took her to northern Syria via Turkey. I was petrified”.’

She knew timing was everything and together with sister Mandy flew to the Syrian border to take action themselves.

Unable to continue further Mandy returned to Ireland while Ms Monaghan made the perilous journey across 5km of no man’s land into a war zone.

She had promised her husband money and in return she would come to live with him and raise their daughter as a Muslim.

She was also unaware he had two other children and a wife from a previous marriage already there.

He was waiting for her across the border and handed her a hajib telling her “this was her life”.

That was the start of a nightmare to return home to safety.

“I eventually joined him in his home village of Nairab,” she said. “I had promised him money etc. He practically locked me in his house for two weeks with no proper food or running water. “We awaited rescue from paid Turkish smugglers that never came.”

Louise Monaghan met her future husband Mostafa in Cyprus where she moved to live and work.

LONG CLIMB TO FREEDOM

How she escaped from Syria, through endless checkpoints and across mountains was down to sheer luck, bravery and the help of people smugglers.

But she had to wait for her chance to escape.

Following a series of assaults she begged her ex-husband to drive her to the immigration office with May so she could get an extended visa to stay — it was part of her plan.

“He agreed and while he was in the visa office we ran,” she said.

With no passports in hand getting back across the border wasn’t going to be easy.

Mother and daughter stayed in several safe houses in Damascus and after many failed escape attempts eventually hiked over mountains between Syria and Lebanon with people smugglers.

Describing the journey in an 2013 interview on The Late Late Show, Ms Monaghan said her daughter who spoke fluent Arabic remained tough, resilient and never complained despite scaling a massive mountain for hours.

Eventually the smugglers left them at the border and they walked across to freedom where she received help from Irish authorities.

Mostafa was arrested on the back of an international arrest warrant attempting to leave Syria one month later but disappeared when the country collapsed.

“Irish department of Foreign Affairs informed me,” she said.

“They were hoping to arrange extradition to Cyprus but Mostafa disappeared.”

She has no idea where he is today although told news.com.au she believed he may be in the UAE where he has family.