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Sumetra Choosaneh prepares papers ready to pursue the return of her son

Phuket Tug-of-Love Mother Prepares to Fight for Son

Friday, March 11, 2011
THE MOTHER of a twice-abducted Phuket boy is preparing to travel to Europe to fight a court action for the return of her son.

''I do not plan on coming back to Phuket without my boy,'' Sumetra Choosaneh told Phuketwan in an interview in Bangkok, where she is studying.

Her son, Ricardo Choosaneh, has become the centre of an international wrangle between his Dutch father and his Thai mother. Khun Sumetra now longs for the chance to put her case for custody in a Netherlands court.

She has fully documented payments she made each week to the boy's father, Michael Roland van Alphen, while she was working for several years in France to support the boy in the Netherlands.

Having been denied the opportunity to talk by telephone to Ricardo or even correspond by email, last year Khun Sumetra went to the Dutch city of Delft for a reunion with her son, and soon after brought the boy back to Phuket, fleeing via France.

In what appeared at first to be a reconciliation, Khun Sumetra's family paid the cost of the boy's foster mother, Kimberley Ching-Yong, to come to visit Phuket earlier this year. Soon after Ricardo's ninth birthday, days before he was to start studying at Phuket's British International School, Ms Ching-Yong abducted the boy.

Khun Sumetra has since gone to Thai Royal Police who informed Interpol that an abduction had been committed. Questions still remain about the part played by Dutch officials in Thailand in the abduction, and how Ms Ching-Yong got the boy back to the Netherlands, apparently via Malaysia.

The double-abduction case has been featured on a popular television series in the Netherlands, where Mr van Alphen and Ching-Yong appear to have won support for their case for custody.

However, Khun Sumetra and her family say that the father has never been a good provider and continues to use possession of the boy as a means to extract money from others and to gain government housing in the Netherlands.

There is little doubt, however, that Ms Ching-Yong has built up a strong affection for the boy in caring for him at Mr van Alphen's insistence.

It was Ms Ching-Yong who first contacted Phuketwan last year in an attempt to trace Ricardo. Then on January 19 she wrote: ''I will be on Phuket from January 28th till February 8th, 2011 to visited and celebrate the 9th birthday of my beloving boy Ricardo (January 29th). Is it a idea to meet each other during this period?''

Phuketwan responded: ''That's great news. You must be so pleased. We'd be very happy to catch up. Our phone numbers here are 076 236836-7 and (a mobile number). Always delighted to hear happy endings.'' She never did call.
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Comments

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So, Sumetra "brought" the boy back to Phuket, whereas Ching-Yong "abducted" the boy...? How can she even get a Visa to travel to Europe, wont she be arrested immediately when arriving in Holland for "bringing" (abducting, kidnapping) the boy last time around?

Posted by christian on March 11, 2011 21:53

Editor Comment:

Most countries rightly view ''family abductions'' as different to kidnappings. If Sumetra was returning to the Netherlands to the first hearing of both sides in a custody case, it's not likely she would be arrested. Whether foster mother Ms Ching-Yong also committed a ''family abduction'' is not clear. The choice of words wasn't meant to imply judgements in either instance.

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Last week the boy was on Dutch TV with his father and he said to be very happy to be back home in Holland. He also spoke about his Thai uncle in Phuket and how he was scared of that man. The boy said he wants to stay with his father.

Posted by Eddy on April 7, 2011 16:53


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