High Court orders return of 10-year-old to Ukraine, no evidence of “grave risk” to safety
A High Court judge has ordered the return of a 10-year-old boy to Ukraine, on the basis that there is no evidence that the child would be at “grave risk” if they return to their home country.
Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty heard on Wednesday that the Ukrainian boy did not want to return to Ukraine from Ireland to live with his father.
She heard that the boy objected to returning, and that he was “afraid of dying.” However, she said that the child’s fear was not based on established facts, nor was there medical evidence to establish that this fear in itself might cause a grave risk to the child if returned.
The court heard that the child had arrived in Ireland after leaving Ukraine with his mother in May 2022 and spending two months in Poland. However, the child’s father had not granted consent for the boy’s relocation.
Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty said that the father had persistently asked for details of his child’s location, and had repeatedly requested that the mother and son return to Ukraine.
A letter detailing the boy’s objection to returning home read:
My father wants me to go back to Ukraine. I’m so scared of that, Thousands of people there are murdered every day. My father says it’s safe, but so many rockets fly into the region where he lives. Where my father lives there are no air defences. I’m afraid of dying.
However, the judge ruled that with regard to this risk felt by the child, there was “insufficient evidence to substantiate his concerns.”
There is no evidence of this in any of the affidavits, and on the contrary, there are averments as to the facts on the ground, which are that the father lives in a place in which there are alerts and bomb shelters but where there has not been an invasion nor is there any evidence of bombs or devices detonating or exploding in the area, let alone evidence of murders or anything of that nature.
While many women and children have sought safety in neighbouring countries, most Ukrainian children remain, safely, at home in Ukraine.
Ms Justice Gearty also noted that while the child felt safe in Ireland, the evidence provided to the court did not indicate that he had settled here or had made an “emotional home” in Ireland which would compare to the life, friends and interests he left in Ukraine.
She added that the child’s father could provide undertakings to reassure the court that the boy will be moved if any threat emerges.