The High Court has directed the return of three children to Sweden after rejecting their father’s defences to their mother’s application under the Hague Convention on child abduction.
In a judgment delivered on 7 March 2025, Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell said the mother had not given free and unequivocal consent to the children’s removal to Ireland in September 2022, and had not acquiesced in their continued stay. The court found the evidence supported her account that she had acted under pressure from the father.
The proceedings were brought almost two years after the children left Sweden. Their habitual residence in Sweden, the mother’s custody rights and her exercise of those rights at the time of removal were not disputed. Because more than a year had passed before proceedings began, the court considered whether the children had settled in Ireland as well as the other asserted defences.
The father argued that the parents had agreed he would travel with the children to Ireland to seek international protection, with the possibility of later family reunification. He relied on messages, an email the mother sent to a Swedish lawyer, and her contact with the family after the move. The mother said any apparent agreement was made under pressure and threats.
The judge considered contemporaneous Swedish police and social services material, the mother’s lawyer’s account of a December 2022 phone call, and other documents. The judgment records concerns in the social services report that the mother felt controlled and remained afraid. The judge concluded the father had not proved consent on the balance of probabilities and had not established acquiescence.
The court also rejected the father’s argument that the children were settled in Ireland. They were attending school, progressing well and had made friends, but the judge found the evidence showed adjustment rather than the degree of physical and emotional connection to their wider community required by the Convention.
On grave risk, the father alleged violence by the mother and said his immigration status could prevent him from taking part in Swedish proceedings or seeing the children. The judge found little supporting evidence for the allegations and no evidence that the father would be unable to participate in custody or access matters in Sweden. The court did not decide what arrangements would ultimately serve the children’s welfare, which would be for the Swedish courts.
The children had expressed opposition to returning. However, the judge found their views could not be treated as genuine and reliable objections, citing the assessor’s concerns that they had been strongly influenced by their father and fears about what might happen in Sweden.
The court ordered the children’s return to Sweden. It listed the case for 11 March 2025 to hear submissions on the form of the final orders and whether further redactions were needed before wider publication.