Judge says Wales the place for custody fight

Judge John Adams says the appropriate place for dispute over the custody of baby Caitlin is in her homeland of Wales.

The judge said The Hague Convention on Child Abduction was an appropriate theme and expressed concern over Stephen Jelicich's "ability to abide by the [custody] order".

The order was for Caitlin to be handed over to her mother on January 9, to return to Wales.

Judge Adams said there was insufficient time for Mr Jelicich's appeal [only one working day] to be "heard and disposed of in the High Court before January 9, the day Caitlin was to be handed over to the custody of her mother".

He upheld Judge David Mather's decision of December 24.

In his judgment, Judge Adams said: "The presiding judge is an experienced and careful judge. His minute details a schedule of access which was consented to at the same time, although his particular order was not by consent.

"The parties and child only came to New Zealand for a holiday. They had return tickets to Wales, Stephen Jelicich changed his mind.

"Given the potential for return to Wales on or after January 9, this application for stay filed late on January 5 is prejudicially late.

"Though refusal renders appeal nugatory the prejudice to respondent mother and child, who would suffer a sort of marooning in New Zealand, would be very high. There is no realistic prospect of an appeal on this being heard and disposed of in the High Court before next Sunday.

"The prospects for the applicant on appeal will suffer from the above factors, and the close connection of mother and child with Wales, which appears to be the proper forum for future disputes.

"The welfare interests of the child must predominate over slavish generosity of appeal process. The proper course for Stephen Jelicich, if he contents for a different outcome, will be to commence proceedings in Wales which will apply welfare-based principles.

"The principles of UNCROC [the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child] and The Hague Convention on Child Abduction are appropriate themes here. The appropriate forum is Wales.

He said the application gave him concern about the reliability of Mr Jelicich to abide by the order and he ordered a warrant to be issued to enforce Diane Jelicich's custody.

- NZPA