3 foreigners in child-custody tussle get jail

The mother of a two-year-old who is the subject of a court case here and in England was jailed for 10 weeks yesterday for entering Singapore at an unauthorised landing place.

The woman had sneaked into Singapore with two foreigners at Raffles Marina last month to get her child back from her elderly in-laws. The 30-year-old foreigner, who cannot be named, is undergoing divorce proceedings with her Singaporean husband. She was given custody of the child by an English court this year.

One of the other two foreigners, Adam Christopher Whittington, 38, who has British and Australian citizenship, was given 16 weeks on three charges. He is the managing director of Child Abduction Recovery International, a non-governmental organisation.

Australian Todd Allan Wilson, 39, the skipper of a catamaran, was jailed for 10 weeks for illegal entry.

The court heard that the woman had entered into a contract with Whittington's company in June to get her child back to London from his grandparents here.

As she had told Whittington that she could not enter Singapore through the usual immigration channels, he made arrangements to charter a catamaran from an agent in Langkawi.

All three met in Langkawi on Aug 14. Five days later, they made their way to Singapore on the boat, arriving at Raffles Marina, which is not an authorised landing place. After disembarking at 6am, Whittington and the child's mother took a cab to the condominium where the child lived.

They waited for her in-laws to come out of the unit. Whittington placed his left arm around the neck of the grandfather, 66, and the mother grabbed the child from her father-in-law.

A scuffle broke out at the lift landing between the couple and Whittington.

When the grandmother, 68, held on to Whittington's bag strap to stop him from leaving, he pressed her neck with his fingers.

elena@sph.com.sg

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