Dad abducts boys and takes them to Lebanon
FIRST ON 7: A mother has been left distraught after discovering her two young sons have been abducted and flown to Lebanon by their father.
Iryna Tarakan’s estranged husband was on bail facing violent assault charges when he took off with the two and five-year-old boys.
She fears she may never see them again.
“At first I was just shocked and didn’t know what to do and then you wake up in the morning and you’re kids are not there,” she told 7News.
The Sydney mother split with her husband Tony Sukkar, 43, last year.
He was on bail on serious assault charges and was due in court on January 30, having to report to the Parramatta police station every Wednesday.
This week he failed to do so, because he was half a world away in Lebanon.
Ms Tarakan had expected to pick her children up from her ex-husband’s home he shares with his mother on Monday night, but received a call from Mr Sukkar asking if the boys could stay another night.
She agreed, never imagining her sons would be taken out of the country that evening.
Adding to her fears, she is desperately worried about the trauma her eldest boy will be going through, as he is autistic and needs specialist care.
“He needs to be in Australia to get all the help and therapies… it’s going to be really tough on him,” Ms Tarakan said.
She is facing a difficult battle because Lebanon is not a signatory on the international child abduction convention.
She has pleaded for help from both the NSW Police and the Department of Immigration, but both have said they cannot help bring her children back.
The Department of Immigration has offered a list of lawyers in Lebanon, but as a single mum with no job and no family, she has limited resources.
The Federal Attorney General’s office has said she can make an application under the bi-lateral agreement with Lebanon.
