On Wednesday Macayla Beairsto took her 18-month-old daughter to play with her father in Tatamagouche’s Nelson Park.
“He said he was going to take her to Victoria Park to get ice cream, but instead they went to Maine,” said Beairsto on Thursday.
The visit was a court-ordered one for young Sahara with her American father Jeremy Cook that was supposed to last four hours and end with her return at 1:30 p.m.
But Cook never returned with Sahara.
He crossed the border into Maine Wednesday afternoon and flew back home with her to Washington state. “I’m returning her to her home,” wrote Cook in a text message to Beairsto on Wednesday evening.
“I guess the lawyers get to sort it. We both file criminal charges lol that’ll be fun.”
The move by Cook, who could not be reached by The Chronicle Herald for comment on Thursday, created another twist in a complicated legal fight over a little girl who loves her “special blankies.”
Beairsto’s lawyer, Patrick Eagan, was in front of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Thursday afternoon trying to get an order for her return that may or may not be enforced by American police.
He was told Thursday that instead he’ll need to go before the Nova Scotia Supreme Court to seek such an order.
“That should happen fast, hopefully as soon as tomorrow,” said Eagan.
“The other question is how fast can I get action on it by the police force in the States?”
Meanwhile Beairsto just wants her daughter back.
But there is no certainty that will happen in what was already a complicated international custody dispute.
Beairsto was 15 and Cook was 30 when they began chatting online eight years ago.
According to Nova Scotia Supreme Court documents, Cook, a private contractor for the United States military, had two children from a previous marriage to a Chinese citizen that Beairsto was not aware of when they married in Tatamagouche in 2014.
In 2015 Beairsto eventually moved to Washington state on a visitor’s visa and began living with Cook.
After a difficult pregnancy Sahara was born on Dec. 16, 2016, an American citizen.
Then, on Jan. 21, 2017, an argument broke out when Beairsto discovered movie stubs in Cook’s pocket that she believed showed he was seeing someone else.
The details of the altercation that ensued were disputed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in January 2018 by both Cook and Beairsto.
“She says she was holding the baby,” wrote Justice Jeffrey Hunt in his summary.
“She says she and the baby were pushed into the wall. She asserts that there were injuries. I do not have evidence of that beyond what she says. I do not get the sense, as upsetting as it would have been, that there were physical injuries.”
Beairsto also claims a firearm was used by Cook in a threatening manner.
Beairsto called both the police and her father in Nova Scotia, who had not been present in her life during her courtship and marriage to Cook.
“I was on a plane the next day,” Craig Beairsto told The Chronicle Herald on Thursday.
“. . . I live with the regret every day that I suggested they work together and she not pursue with criminal charges down there. That is on my shoulders.”
As part of a verbal agreement made at the time, Cook, who claimed in court documents that he had taken Beairsto’s passport by accident, returned it to her and she, her father and Sahara (then six weeks old) returned to Nova Scotia.
She also didn’t lay charges against him.
Beairsto and Sahara have lived in Nova Scotia ever since.
Meanwhile, Cook sought a divorce from Beairsto in Washington state.
Bearisto never responded to that court process.
“That put her somewhat behind the ball,” said Eagan, her lawyer.
Cook was awarded custody of Sahara despite her only having lived in Washington state for six weeks.
Armed with a custody order, Cook sought Sahara’s return.
The case fell in the lap of Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Hunt who did not take a kindly view of Cook’s legal moves in the United States.
“The troubling thing — and it has troubled the court — is the overlay of Mr. Cook’s manipulation of the situation to his own advantage,” said Hunt in an oral decision given on Feb. 1, 2018.
“It does not portray Mr. Cook in a very good light at all.”
Hunt called Cook a sophisticated and “emotionally manipulative” man.
“I have read the e-mails where things were not working for him the way he wanted, he would obliquely threaten to do himself harm or, you know, ‘look in the paper tomorrow,’ it is clear there was emotional manipulation.”
But Hunt was not charged with deciding who got custody of Sahara.
His job was to determine whether, under an international convention to which Canada is a signatory, the courts were obligated to return Sahara to Cook.
While the Hague Convention states that it is established to protect the best interests of the child, Hunt himself was not allowed to decide that under its wording.
“In most cases only the court in a child’s habitual place of residence has the legal jurisdiction to make determinations about the child’s best interest,” said Hunt.
In this case, that would be the court in Washington state that granted Cook custody.
“Other courts are instructed in very definitive and binding terms that unless the facts fall into one of the exceptions set out in Article 13, the court is not to engage in that analysis (best interests of child),” continued Hunt.
“The Convention is intended, therefore, to serve the best interests of children in general by deterring wrongful taking or detention across international borders.”
And so he ordered that Sahara be returned.
Beairsto appealed that decision and had a date set for September.
In the meantime, she sought and obtained a stay of that order for Sahara’s return until her appeal is heard.
As part of that order, she was obligated to provide Cook unsupervised time with Sahara.
On Wednesday, Cook came to exercise that right and took her back to the United States.
“You know . . . I had intended to bring her back tonight,” texted Cook to Beairsto after he had crossed into the United States on Wednesday.
“I was going to show you that we could work together. That’s impossible now. If you’d let me finish before you flipped out I’d be back right about now. I withdrew my application under the convention already. If you want to continue down this path then so be it. If not let me know.”
To which Beairsto replied, “I just want her back.”
Cpl. Jennifer Clarke of the RCMP confirmed Thursday that they had been contacted by Beairsto at 1:42 p.m. on Wednesday — 12 minutes after the arranged time for Sahara to be returned.
“The RCMP can confirm that the child involved is not in any risk of danger or harm,” wrote Clarke in a written response.
“The matter is currently before the courts in Nova Scotia and in Washington state in the U.S. The RCMP is continuing to investigate the matter.”
Meanwhile, Eagan says that a ruling under the Hague Convention made by the Supreme Court of Canada after Hunt’s February ruling increases their likelihood of winning an appeal in September.
In the meantime, a page has been set up to fund Beairsto’s legal bills and expenses.
It can be found here: https:// www.gofundme.com/bring-sahara- home
