Kidnap-case couple yet to reunite

Tauranga man Craig Henwood is "playing a waiting game" while his fiancee, Juliette Gilbert, languishes in a US jail awaiting trial for kidnapping her son.

Ms Gilbert, who spent three years in NZ on the run from the FBI, has denied a charge of first-degree "custodial interference".

She took her son, Sky, now aged 9, from Washington State in 2002 after she was awarded joint custody with her former husband.

Mother and son made international headlines in April when they were found to be living rough in a small tent by a remote track near Lake Rotoma with only a kayak for transport.

Authorities were tipped off when Ms Gilbert went to a Rotorua real estate office seeking a house to rent. She was arrested and later deported.

With his mother in custody, Sky was reunited with his father, Roby Gilbert.

Ms Gilbert, 37, met Mr Henwood in Tauranga and lived with him for 10 months before fleeing without warning in January. It was only then he found out she was on the FBI wanted list.

He has not given up his hopes of a shared future.

Having managed to raise the money to follow his fiancee to the US, he is "just sitting tight to see what is going to happen."

At present he would be allowed only a short visit to Ms Gilbert in prison once a month.

The couple's only contact since she was deported has been through letters. "I can't ring her and she can't ring me." Despite the difficulties, Mr Henwood said firmly: "We will get through this."