October 16, 2008

Mother 'abducted' children from CYFS care

A mother who whisked her two children away from Child, Youth and Family care because she was concerned about ill-treatment, has got community work after being convicted of abduction.

Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen Erber said he took account of the fact that Rangi Robyn Curtis had taken her own children when she believed ? wrongly ? that they were not being looked after.

The children had gone into Child, Youth and Family care after they were seen around the streets with no supervision.

Curtis, 36, was convicted after a jury trial.

Defence counsel David Stringer said it was Curtis? belief, whether she was right or not, that the children were not being properly looked after. She had raised her complaint with the service and did not believe it was being followed through.

The trial was told that after a supervised visit with the children, she took them out to her car and drove them away to a friend?s house, and later took them home where she put them to bed.

The police arrived that night to pick up the children, and according to Judge Erber, Curtis behaved very badly. He said: ?You caused maximum distress to the children, I have no doubt, when you were barricaded in the house with the police knocking at the door.?

Crown prosecutor Marcus Zintl said Curtis had never expressed her remorse, and still had hostility towards the Child, Youth, and Family service.

Judge Erber ordered her to do 200 hours of community work on top of a sentence she is already serving.