It was December 26th and Anna Mathews had to give her child, her life Samuel or Sam as she always calls him, to his father Tom aka James Robert Pierce. Anna and James, a citizen of Great Britain fell in love while James stayed back in Fort Kochi for a business. They had an ugly divorce followed by a custody battle. Anna finally managed to get the custody of her son and brought him home. However, James requested the High Court to provide him six days of custody of his son starting from December 26th to December 31st. Before the deadline closed, he managed to leave the country.

Pierce had been living in the state for the last 10 years on a tourist visa; he was running a fast food joint in Mattancherry, Kochi. Police sources said he left for Kathmandu from Mattancherry in a two-wheeler. Pierce’s mobile was switched off but police could track signals when he was in Goa, Madhya Pradesh, and also near the Chinese border in Kathmandu. Since the child’s and his passports were in the custody of the High Court, Pierce had managed to get a police report stating that his documents went missing.

Using this, he secured fresh passports from the British Embassy in Kathmandu.  Once in Britain, he was pulled up for forgery. Soon, Anna received a call from the British Embassy offering all help.  She was offered the legal services of Reunite International, UK’s leading charity specializing in the movement of children across international borders.

The world came to know about the kidnap of Sam by his own dad through a heartbreaking Facebook post on January 13 by Anna. In her post she wrote: