Mother weeps as courts play pendulum custody of her son

PUTRAJAYA - Deepa Subramaniam thought her drawn-out custody battle with her ex-husband over her six-year-old son was finally settled when the Court of Appeal granted her custody last month. Today, she wept as the Federal Court granted her ex-husband ― Muslim convert Izwan Abdullah’s application to stay a lower court’s order to return his son to her until the next trial date.

“I've been waiting for my son's return but until now, I still don't have him back and have to wait some more because of the judges' ruling today,” she told reporters when met outside the courtroom. Izwan, who had defied court orders to return their son to her, was granted stay today on the custody as well as recovery order until the next trial date where he can appeal the Court of Appeal decision.

"He said that he loves me but he didn't know what to do.

"He looked frightened, he was very quiet," Deepa said of her brief reunion with her son in court today. Her lawyer Aston Paiva said the court should have returned the boy to his mother today, as decided by judges at the Seremban High Court in April and then again at the Court of Appeal on December 17.

"It is quite unfortunate that the mother is being put through another hurdle.

"She is a person from a very humble background and it is ludicrous for divorce cases to be coming up to the federal court," he told reporters here. He added that "further complications" could be avoided for both child and mother if the son had been returned first.

Arrangements on schooling and religious upbringing should be dealt with later as these are private family matters, he added.