Mother granted custody of son after Australian dad abducted boy from Japan after 2011 tsunami, citing radiation risk
Courier Mail -- Mar 20
An Australian man who abducted his little boy from rural Japan after the devastating Japanese earthquake in 2011 has lost a bitter family tug-of-war for custody.
The Family Court of Australia has played down the risk posed by radiation from the damage caused by Japan's worst disaster since World War II and handed the four year-old back to his Japanese mother.
Justice Stuart Fowler cleared the way for the boy's return to the non-Hague signatory country recently with the "hope" Japan will eventually join the UN convention.
He granted the mother sole parental responsibility, finding the boy was not at "unacceptable risk" from radiation exposure back in Japan.
In his bid to gain custody, the father - who is about to marry for a third time - deliberately deceived the farmer's daughter into letting him flee tsunami-ravaged Japan with their son.
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