Abductor or protector?

[SageDad]

Transcript and video of a CNN segment for an international child abduction case.

Interesting how CNN didn't consider the abduction itself very newsworthy, but found the fact that the mother was forced to return the child she kidnapped to be newsworthy (and indeed international child abducting mothers are a dime a dozen, but courts who uphold international law and refuse to provide an aura of legitimacy to kidnappers are rare indeed.)

Video
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2012/05/24/erin-pkg-italy-custody-battle.cnn

Transcript
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1205/25/cnr.04.html

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Abductor or protector? Two years ago a Los Angeles woman fled the U.S. with her Italian-born son, sparking a bitter international child custody case. Now she has got to go back to Italy and an Italian court will decide who the boy belongs with.

Miguel Marquez, he shows us both sides of this rather complicated story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LURA CALDER, LEO'S MOM: This is my worst nightmare coming true.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lura Calder, an American fighting for her 6-year-old son, Leo. Two years ago she fled Parma, Italy, and an Italian husband she grew to fear.

(on camera): You feared for your life?

CALDER: I feared for my life and I feared for my son's life.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Neither parent wanted us to show Leo's face. When Calder left Italy with Leo, who was born there, then filed for a legal separation here in California, her Italian husband filed charges of his own, kidnapping.

CALDER: I'm not a bad mom. I didn't damage my child. I was protecting him. I was protecting him, and all I did was come to my family, you know. I don't have a right to come to my own family for help?

MARQUEZ: Calder claims her husband physically and emotionally abused her, sexually abused their son, and may have hired a hit man. She won her first case, but a California appeals court in December found only the claim of emotional abuse credible and ordered that she return Leo to Italy and let the courts there sort it out.

CALDER: I don't see myself as a child abductor. I see myself as a person who saved her child.

MARQUEZ: Calder's husband, Maurizio Rigamonti, used international law, The Hague Convention, to compel his son's return. He claims the abuse came from her, and in taking their son to California, she went too far.

MAURIZIO RIGAMONTI, LEO'S DAD: Lura broke the law. She did bad things. She claimed a lot of stuff that they weren't true, you know.

MARQUEZ: But Calder has support from high-powered celebrities like Angelina Jolie, whose Children's Foundation believes Hague Convention rules are being abused by vindictive spouses.

CALDER: All of it has been taken away from him for what, to go back to an abusive man?

RIGAMONTI: I'm ready to care about his needs, you know, and I will -- with all my patience, all my love, I want the best for Leo, you know?

MARQUEZ: Calder and Leo will return to Italy June 1st. Upon landing in Rome, Leo will go home with his father until a full custody hearing two days later. Calder fears that separation could be devastating.

CALDER: My son, he has never spent a single night ever alone with his father in his entire life.

MARQUEZ: A bitter custody fight, a 6-year-old boy at its heart, Leo's fate soon in the hands of an Italian court.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[SageDad]

Apparently a Paris newspaper, disgusted by the one-sided coverage of CNN, allowed the father to publish his side of the story.


… and justice for all? Victimized fathers presumed guilty without evidence.
BY HERALD DE PARIS CONTRIBUTOR'S BUREAU ON JUNE 17, 2012

On May 24th, CNN aired a story about Lura Calder and her desperate flight from Italy to Los Angeles, to save herself and her son from his Italian father, Maurizio Rigamonti.  Problem.  Instead of reporting the story impartially, CNN chose sides.  That isn’t what a news a news agency is supposed to do.  Despite support from the international community, CNN portrayed Rigamonti as a predator, and his ex-wife and child as helpless victims.  In doing so, CNN exposed an ugly hole in the American justice system – while every criminal, murderer, and swindler is presumed innocent until proven guilty, all it takes is a simple phone call to the police for one parent to bar another access to their own child – no proof necessary.  Why Ms. Calder thought she was above Italian and international law … we don’t know.  That is not our role in the media.  We just think it’s wrong for CNN to have only offered half the story, and for an international news agency to be advocating for the disregard of Italian and international law.  Therefore, we invited Mr. Rigamonti to tell us the rest of the story, in his own words.  – Jes Alexander, Publisher, Herald de Paris, et Cie.

http://www.heralddeparis.com/and-justice-for-all-victimized-fathers-presumed-guilty-without-evidence/180109

[SageDad]

There are a number of very interesting and important aspects to this story.

My first question is though, if the mother falsely accused the father of raping his child and engaged in a documented campaign of fraud, perjury, child abuse and contempt of court, why didn't the American court charge her for any of these crimes?

When allegations of sexual abuse such as these exist they must always be taken seriously.  This is precisely the case because, forcing a child to undergo frivolous psychological interrogations and physical examinations designed to detect the existence of sexual abuse, the type of the abuse, the perpetrator (if any,) and other details such as time and place, is itself, sexually abusive to the child.  If the child has been coached, indoctrinated, ordered or manipulated in any way to additionally lie about, or even personally believe, that non-existent sexual abuse had actually occurred that makes the crime just that much worse.

The same can be said for the mother's arguments of domestic violence.  If the mother's allegations of domestic violence are false, she is guilty of the worst form of emotional, psychological, financial and legal forms of abuse that I can imagine, and she should be prosecuted for the same.  All allegations of domestic violence represent TRUE domestic violence -- either because the statements themselves are true, or because they themselves are a devastating form of domestic violence.

[Diane]

This is classic abductor behavior.  Ignore the right of the LBP to be heard the court of residence as mandated in the Hague Tenets.  Then from half way round the world,  spout a litany of abuses against the left behind parent.   Go to the press or court there,  fake some tears and feel free to say any outrageous story you choose,  to justify the use of the ("worst form of emotional, psychological, financial and legal forms of abuse" )    and then leave it to some shoddy journalist to capitilize a sensational story. without checking the legitimacy of the story, or taking into account that they are speaking to a criminal child abductor,  That would be CNN in this case.   Very difficult to clear your good name when a major news network stoops to what amounts to libel and slander.


It also doesn't help to be emotionally, and financially drained as most LBPs are in the battle to regain their child.

[rmakielski]

Shame on CNN for this act of omission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKwshNmwsVU

[ANALE]

It will be interesting to see how the Italian courts are going to handle this case on child abduction under the Hague Convention since little Liam McCarty is still in Italy I think.  I believe he is an American citizen and his American father has been thumbed by the Italian courts for a couple of years.

[rduffiel]

Abductor pretending to be a victim.  Only fooling those who choose to be swayed by her emotions.

[UD_student]

While the CNN coverage is atrocious, it sadly does not surprise me. There is something wrong when I am more surprised that a Paris newspaper actually published something criticizing CNN and suggesting that there are two sides to every story. There always are-even if one side is completely irrational and illogical-as taking parents stories normally are when they abduct their own children.

[SageDad]

I've never heard of the child charity, KIND, that Angelina Jolie works with.  I couldn't find anything about their position on this case or what statements, if any, they are making about the way the Hague Convention is written or works in practice.  I wonder if KIND would be willing to do something for real victims of international child abduction?

I tried finding some of the court decisions online without any luck, but I did find this petition to "Save Leo from being returned to the father US courts deemed abusive"

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-leo-from-being-returned-to-the-father-us-courts-deemed-abusive

It says:

"The Hague Convention, which was meant to prevent and address international child abduction, has an exception for children who have been removed from an abusive home, but judges routinely ignore this exception, sending hundreds of children back to abusers every year."

I don't know the details of this case enough to definitively say anything, but I can say that this line is a load of propaganda and poo.  Article 13b, the "routinely" abused exception, is routinely used as a vehicle to litigate child custody and the child's best interests.  To claim that judges routinely ignore this exception, much less, send "hundreds of children back to abusers every year" requires either ignorance or dishonesty.

[StrngConviction]

I've never heard of the child charity, KIND, that Angelina Jolie works with.  I couldn't find anything about their position on this case or what statements, if any, they are making about the way the Hague Convention is written or works in practice.  I wonder if KIND would be willing to do something for real victims of international child abduction?

I tried finding some of the court decisions online without any luck, but I did find this petition to "Save Leo from being returned to the father US courts deemed abusive"

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-leo-from-being-returned-to-the-father-us-courts-deemed-abusive

It says:

"The Hague Convention, which was meant to prevent and address international child abduction, has an exception for children who have been removed from an abusive home, but judges routinely ignore this exception, sending hundreds of children back to abusers every year."

I don't know the details of this case enough to definitively say anything, but I can say that this line is a load of propaganda and poo.  Article 13b, the "routinely" abused exception, is routinely used as a vehicle to litigate child custody and the child's best interests.  To claim that judges routinely ignore this exception, much less, send "hundreds of children back to abusers every year" requires either ignorance or dishonesty.

It is still up to the courts where the child resided before the wrongful removal to decide, not a court that hasnt a clue or the resources to make that decision. Unless its already a fact and proven in court that the parent is abusive. thats how they get away with what the abductors get away with , they accuse without the burden of proof. it sickens me.

[StrngConviction]

It doesnt surprise me that CNN did this , they are always about dramatizing some issue out of context, a bunch of hollywood stars with nothing better to do than try to make them selves look like heros. They need to stick with Bob Barker saving  the whales, they might actually get something done.

[M.Capestro]

Since IPCA is outside its current mission scope, it's difficult to believe that KIND is supporting this mother or has issued the statement included in the CNN report.
 
http://www.supportkind.org/

[SageDad]

Since IPCA is outside its current mission scope, it's difficult to believe that KIND is supporting this mother or has issued the statement included in the CNN report.
 
http://www.supportkind.org/

Here are the Amicus Briefs that were submitted to the California Supreme Court (the CNN article gave me the impression this had gone to the US Supreme Court) according to the "Save Leo" website.

I have only scanned KIND's brief so far, but I also noticed that Jeffrey L. Edleson makes an appearance -- though I have long since written him off as a rent seeking gender warrior, misandrist and bigot who publishes activist studies under the color of his degree and promotes domestic violence so long the victims are men.

It would seem though that KIND was, whole-heartedly, in favor of this mother, and displayed no balance or perspective on the issue whatsoever.  It's unfortunate that so many agencies that are ostensibly against domestic violence (not to mention in "support of children") actually support domestic violence (and, in this case, parental child trafficking) when the victims are not the politically correct ones.  An interesting case in point, and relevant due to its upcoming anniversary, is that of Lorena Bobbit, the "national folk heroine" (according to Vanity Fair) who violently mutilated her husband's genitals as he slept http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-date-in-history-lorena-bobbitt.html to the sound of applause and laughter.

[rmakielski]

In these cases usually the court appoints a guardian ad litem to represent the child. "KIND helps unaccompanied children who face the immigration system alone." This is not an immigration case. I appears obvious that KIND providing services to the TP.  If TP did not make a criminal report of abuse in Italy (there is no reference) then she is a negligent parent. Shame on KIND for deceiving those that donate.

[SageDad]

Speaking of bigots and misguided activists who, presumably inadvertently, promote child abuse and domestic violence, I just came across this excellent editorial in Psychology Today about other Amicus briefs before the California Supreme Court on the topic of domestic violence and parental alienation (bearing in mind that child abduction is a extreme form of parental alienation.)



Caught Between Parents
Supporting children through the challenges of divorce.
by Amy J.L. Baker, Ph.D.
Friend of the court
Recent California Amicus Brief Involves Tired Old Myths About PAS
Published on June 20, 2012


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/caught-between-parents/201206/friend-the-court