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Home NewsGuyana News PM Hinds’ Wife Returns To Guyana With US-Born Grandson; Battle With Mother Likely Continues

PM Hinds’ Wife Returns To Guyana With US-Born Grandson; Battle With Mother Likely Continues

by caribdirect
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Mrs. Yvonne Hinds-the wife of Guyana’s Prime Minister-Samuel Hinds- and her son Nikolai were at the centre of a custody battle with her her Pennsylvania-based daughter-in-law over her four-year old American-born grandson.

In court papers filed by her lawyer, Nikolai’s wife, Elizabeth Hinds, said has sought political asylum because her legal stay on account of her husband’s student visa status will be up later this month, having expired on September 13. The couple has 60 days to leave theUS.Pennsylvania-based daughter-in-law over her four-year old American-born grandson.

Allegedly working illegally at a home where she is caring for an elderly man; the younger Mrs. Hinds fears returning toGuyana because of the undue influence of her father-in-law who is the Prime Minister.

“Appellant also testified regarding her fears of returning to Guyana given the fact that her father-in-law is the Prime Minister of that country and satisfied the court that she had already applied for political asylum in the United States due to her fear of returning,” her lawyer, Marcia Binder Ibrahim said in court document.

The case has reached the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Ibrahim on Monday told Demerara Waves Online News that the prime minister’s wife, son, and grandson are back in Guyanaalthough she had secured orders to stay a shared custody ruling that was granted earlier. The lawyer said she had also made efforts to have the matter registered in the National Crime Information System but Pennsylvania police were not quite helpful.

Ibrahim said she had also contacted authorities at the John F. Kennedy International Airport to bar them from leaving the United States but she was advised that Hinds and Nikolai were traveling on diplomatic passports. Given the fact that the child is an American, she intends to contact the US State Department for any advice. Guyana is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on International Abduction.Asked whether she thought Mrs. Yvonne Hinds, her son and their lawyer knew about the Stay, the lawyer told demwaves.com that “I frankly don’t know.”

But in a statement issued late Monday through the Government Information Agency (GINA), the Prime Minister;s wife threatened legal action against anyone tarnishing her image through misleading media reports. She confirmed that the Judge made the order final after her daughter-in-law could not substantiate claims that Guyana was a corrupt country, feared for her life and that she was in the process of seeking efugee status.

“When asked by the judge for documents to verify her processing of refugee status, she had none. At the end of the 31stOctober 2011 hearing, the judge did not find the testimony of my daughter- in- law credible, so the judge’s order of October 11, 2011 was reaffirmed,” said the Prime Minister’s wife.

She highlighted that she returned home to Guyana un-hindered by the American authorities.

“This account of the custody hearing is factual and faithfully reflects what took place in the court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.Any attempt to distort the ruling of the court in this matter, to paint the judge’s orders otherwise, or to discredit my family will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law,” she said.

Judge Jonathan Mark made an oral decision that the child be handed over to his father, Nikolai, and his paternal grandmother. That transfer was done in the courtroom. But Elizabeth Hinds’ lawyer says the judge made no ruling, indicating how he had jurisdiction to make such an order. The lawyer has acknowledged that the Court of Common Pleas does not have actual jurisdiction but may in an emergency situation exercise limited jurisdiction.

Ibrahim immediately moved to the court on November 2 to secure a stay and appeal the judge’s order, fearing that the child would have been almost immediately removed from the United States and permanently separated from his mother.

The boy, born on February 19, 2008 on Lehigh County, Pennsylvania had been living in Monroe County since August 18, 2011 when his grandmother, Yvonne Hinds, took him there for a one-month vacation. Before going there, he had been living with grandparents for about 18 months.

Court documents filed on behalf of the child’s mother state that he was sent to his parents in Guyana on December 2009 because the petition was concerned about the conduct of his natural father which put the child in jeopardy.

Around September 27, 2011,  Yvonne Hinds and Nikolai moved to the courts, marking the beginning of what could have been a complicated international custody battle. They had also wanted the matter to be heard expeditiously and wanted to leave the United States immediately due to his father’s immigration status.

A conciliator later recommended joint legal custody but primary legal custody to the father and that it should take effect inGuyana where it was expected both parties would reside.

That recommendation, which was made an order by Judge JMark in October 2011, was the subject of an appeal on October 19, 2011. The judge, however, dismissed the objection but he did not rule on the appellant’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

Mrs. Elizabeth Hinds’ lawyer also advised the court that there was no basis for emergency jurisdiction because there was no abuse or neglect of the child.

Elizabeth Hinds, on among other grounds, is challenging Judge Mark’s order because he failed to inquire into the suitability of the Prime Minister’s son and so did not have sufficient evidence to render a decision in the best interest of the child. “She also described other actions that raise doubts about the father’s fitness as a parent and that would compel further inquiry in order for the judge to make a decision regarding the best interest of the child. However, the father did not testify in support of his petition for custody nor did the judge ask that he do so,” said Binder Ibrahim.

(Source http://www.demerarawaves.com/index.php/Latest/2011/11/07/pm-hinds-wife-returns-to-guyana-with-us-born-grandson-battle-with-mother-likely-continues.html)

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