Parents face court accused of smuggling son from Australia to Malaysia
A South Australian couple has faced court accused of smuggling their two-year-old son out of Australia and fleeing to Malaysia while they were under investigation by Families SA.
The 23-year-old mother and 27-year-old father from Valley View, who cannot be named to protect the child's identity, have been charged with the aggravated unlawful removal of a child from a jurisdiction.
It has been alleged the boy's mother and father boarded an Air Asia X flight to Kuala Lumpur with the child in August.
The State Government previously said the boy was under an investigation and assessment order.
He was living with his grandparents at the time, but it was alleged they handed him over to his parents and failed to notify authorities within a day that the boy was gone.
The parents were extradited from Malaysia and charged with the aggravated unlawful removal of a child from a jurisdiction.
The grandparents have also been charged with aiding and abetting in the boy's unlawful removal.
The boy's mother wiped away tears as she stood in the dock alongside the child's father in the Adelaide Magistrates Court after arriving in Adelaide from Malaysia.
At the end of the short hearing both blew kisses to supporters in court.
A report on home detention bail has been ordered.
The Department for Education and Child Development could not comment on the current whereabouts of the child, but confirmed that he was safe and well.
