A young Limerick mother who snatched her son from Turkey is afraid her estranged husband might try to get him back. She has full custody of her son until October, when the courts will decide whether the child stays with his mother or returns to Turkey.
"I know he will come back to Ireland looking for Mike, I know in my heart he will, but after all I've been through, he's wasting his time," she said.
Ms Michelle McDonagh, formerly from South Circular Road, Limerick, recently snatched her 22-month-old son, Mike, with her brother, David, from the home of the child's Turkish grandparents. She snatched the baby from the grandmother's arms while they were sleeping and escaped by car through Turkey to the Greek island of Kos.
Ms McDonagh had dressed as a Muslim woman and searched Turkey for six weeks for her son, who was taken from a Manchester shopping centre by the father, Mr Bulent Emree, last April, and brought to Turkey.
In 1994 Ms McDonagh was working as a holiday representative in Turkey. A fluent Turkish speaker, she married her husband in 1995 and the couple moved to Newcastle in England and then Manchester.
The child was born in 1997 and the couple separated amicably last Christmas.
Ms McDonagh moved back to Limerick with Mike and heard very little from her estranged husband until she got a phone call two months ago.
She told the Limerick Leader newspaper: "He rang me from Manchester in April and asked me could I bring Mike to see him, as he had a delay in getting an Irish visa and wanted to see his son.", Ms McDonagh brought the child to the shopping centre where Mr Bulent worked and while she was having a cup of coffee he brought Mike to a nearby shop. However, he left and boarded a flight to Bodrum in west Turkey at Manchester Airport.
She added: "He rang me at midnight and said he had taken Mike on a two-week holiday."
The family had contacted the police, CID and airport security. After two weeks, Ms McDonagh flew to the family home in Turkey.
She was allowed to see her son but claims the family took her money and passport from her handbag and refused to give them back until she was at the airport ready to board a plane home.
"I had no choice but to leave Turkey, as without my passport I would never be able to get either myself or Mike out of the country," she said.