A man living abroad whose daughter was taken to Ireland without his knowledge has told a court he believed the incident had been “planned” by the mother.
The man launched child abduction proceedings at the High Court seeking his young daughter’s return after she was brought to Ireland late last year.
The child was born in Ireland, though the father has argued her habitual residence is in his country of residence, which cannot be identified due to reporting restrictions imposed by the court.
The child’s mother, who is Irish, has alleged physical and mental abuse, including coercive control, during their marriage, which the father denies.
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The hearing, which resumed on Monday after being adjourned over summer, heard the woman booked a flight and resigned from her job shortly before leaving the other country.
Asked by his barrister, Gráinne Lee, whether he believed it was a “spur of the moment” decision to resign, he said he believed it had been “planned”.
“I think this has always been the plan,” he said.
Saying he was told by the woman she would be gone with the child for a few days, he said he contacted her employer about a week later and was told she had resigned before leaving.
“Then panic set in,” he said.
Asked if he was aware the woman had spoken to others about problems with their marriage, he said he was unaware “we had any issues with our marriage until she left”.
The pair married several months after meeting online, with the husband previously describing their marriage as an “arrangement” and a “consequence of her getting pregnant”.
He denied the woman’s allegation that he was regularly physically abusive and was verbally abusive daily.
Asked by Lee why the woman would make the allegations, he said he believed she was “creating a narrative”.
“That’s the only thing that explains all this, since the beginning,” he said.
“Looking at all of this now, over the past few months, it looks like she’s been preparing for this for a while, from the beginning.”
He denied several allegations put to him by Lee, including that he confined the woman to the bedroom for extended periods, describing it as “absurd”.
He said the woman would spend extended time in the bedroom “because there’s a big TV and she would watch her shows on a dodgy box”.
Asked if he confiscated her phone, as alleged by the woman, he also denied this, saying she wanted to “create a narrative that makes me look like a bad person”.
On one occasion, he “took her phone away” for about 20 minutes when she was pushing the child in a stroller while “looking at her phone non-stop”, he said, saying she was going to push the stroller “into the street without looking”.
During Monday’s hearing, the man also alleged the woman “assaulted” their childminder. He also said she had crashed her car into his car while under the influence of alcohol.
Tabitha Wood, for the woman, said her client denied being “drunk”.
The court also heard a divorce sought by the woman had recently been finalised, the terms of which outlined they would have joint custody.
However, Wood told Judge Nuala Jackson she had been advised this provision was “standard issue” and there was a waiting time before the woman could apply for sole custody.
The country is not a signatory of the Hague Convention, one of the main legal frameworks for dealing with international child abduction cases, meaning the court must take into account the child’s welfare and best interests before making a decision.
The hearing continues.
