Daughter taken from dad at airport

ROBYN EDIE/ The Southland Times

'I WANT MY DAUGHTER BACK': Invercargill man Craig Soper fears he won't get custody of his two-year-old daughter Anneliese after Brunei immigration officials seized her passport and refused to let her return to New Zealand in June.

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A distraught Invercargill man says his two-year-old daughter was illegally detained in Brunei in June and the New Zealand Government has done nothing to help get her home.

Craig Soper, a multi-millionaire and the Southland Softball chief executive, has been in ongoing contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in recent weeks but says its inaction has left him frustrated and he is afraid his daughter will not be returned to him.

Mr Soper was in Brunei with his wife Waznah Othman and daughter Anneliese Soper on a softball tour and family holiday in June.

However, the day before they were to return to New Zealand, his wife, who is from Brunei, said she had filed for temporary custody of their daughter in the Syariah Court. Their daughter was born in Brunei but has New Zealand citizenship.

Mr Soper, expecting trouble at the airport, consulted a lawyer and was satisfied he would be able to get her out of Brunei.

But an immigration official confronted him at the airport and said he had to give up his daughter and her passport, he said.

Mr Soper said he pulled out his lawbook stating the custody papers had to be served on him before the court order took effect, but despite police agreeing with him, an immigration official known to his wife refused to let his daughter board the plane.

She was "howling" at the airport when Mr Soper was forced to give her back to her mother. He has not seen his daughter since but has been in contact with his wife.

It had been a "totally soul-destroying experience" and he had aged 10 years in one hour at the airport, he said.

Mr Soper plans to return to Brunei in coming weeks to fight the issue in court, but believes the odds have been stacked against him.

His wife is a newsreader and "minor celebrity" in Brunei and her mother was raised in the Brunei Palace.

"At the end of the day a Muslim dictatorship has illegally detained my daughter at the airport and the New Zealand government is doing nothing to help. I am totally destroyed by this whole thing."

A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry said it had been providing advice and assistance to Mr Soper.

The ministry's investigations had found no evidence that Mr Soper's daughter was detained illegally, adding that a "stop exit" was entered in the Brunei immigration computer system which resulted in young Anneliese being prevented from leaving Brunei.

The ministry had advised Mr Soper to resolve the custody issue with the child's mother through legal channels.

Child custody was a legal issue and the ministry's consular staff could not intervene in the legal processes of another country, the spokeswoman said.

Mr Soper, who said he was worried about his "little princess", and was adamant no "stop exit" flag was in Brunei's immigration system at the airport. He believed his wife's motive was to get him back to Brunei to live with the family, but his home was Invercargill.

The Invercargill born-and-raised entrepreneur was touted to be the richest Maori in 2001, with a newspaper estimating his wealth at between $20 million and $40m.

Along with fellow Southlander Andrew Cardno, he set up computer company Compudigm International Ltd in 1997. When Mr Soper retired at 31 in 2000 the company's value had increased to $75m.

Father 'on his own' in custody battle

Craig Soper will find it hugely difficult to get custody of his daughter from Brunei, an experienced family lawyer says.

Claire O'Donnell, of Auckland, said most countries were signatories to the Hague Convention which allowed authorities in both countries to work together for the return of the children in such cases.

However, Brunei was not a signatory, meaning Mr Soper was on his own.

He would have to go to Brunei and fight the custody battle in a Brunei court at his own expense.

"It makes it hugely difficult, that's why we have the Hague Convention, so that this doesn't happen on a regular basis," Ms O'Donnell said.

She was not surprised to hear that the New Zealand Government was not helping Mr Soper, saying governments did not get involved in the judicial and legal processes of other countries.

"I think it's a private matter, unfortunately."In similar cases she had dealt with the foreign countries had been signatories to the Hague Convention and she had been able to get the children back to New Zealand, she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News