Victoria police have arrested a man who allegedly abducted his daughter, took her to Indonesia, and left her with her relatives there.
According to VicPD Cst Matt Rutherford, Brent Erskine was arrested on Monday, August 19th upon his return to Canada at the Victoria International Airport.
Erskine appeared in court on Tuesday and was charged with abduction in contravention of custody order and disobeying a court order, before being released from custody.
Background
On July 8th, police responded to a child custody case in which they learned that the father, Brent Erskine, had taken his 4-year-old daughter Samantha to Vancouver on June 30th.
This vacation had been arranged between Erskine and the child’s mother, Agustina Wulandar, who are no longer together.
See also: Police seek Victoria father who allegedly abducted his 4-year-old daughter
Samantha was supposed to be returned to Wulandar in Victoria a week later, but when communications between Wulandar and Erskine changed, she grew concerned and called police.
This prompted a VicPD investigation in which officers determined that Erskine travelled with Samantha to Jakarta, Indonesia.
Through the efforts of family and the police, Samantha was dropped off with maternal family members in Indonesia.
After leaving Samantha with her maternal family members, Erskine travelled to Singapore to obtain a Visa, after which VicPD Major Crimes Unit urged him to turn himself in at a Canadian embassy.
“We currently working on getting Samantha home, and are planning a more detailed release in the coming days,” Cst Rutherford told Victoria Buzz.
