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MOTHER

Fugitive mum whose plight divided Spain turns herself in

The Spanish mother at the heart of a bruising public custody battle turned herself in on Tuesday, the latest chapter in a case that has sparked fierce debate in Spain.

Published: 23 August 2017 16:32 CEST
Fugitive mum whose plight divided Spain turns herself in
Juana Rivas outside court in Granada on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Juana Rivas accuses her ex-partner of domestic violence and refuses to let him see their boys, aged 11 and three.   

She had been on the run since rejecting an order to hand her sons over to her Italian ex-partner, Francesco Arcuri, in July.    

Rivas gave herself up at a court in the southern city of Granada on Tuesday, her legal adviser Francisca Granados told reporters.   

She has since been released and a judge allowed the children to remain in Rivas's custody pending her appeal of the order to turn the boys over to Arcuri.

READ MORE: Plight of mother-of-two abuse victim divides Spain

Dozens gathered outside to support Rivas but opinion on social media was deeply divided.

Her return was the top trending topic on Twitter, even as four surviving suspects of an alleged terror cell that unleashed carnage last week in Catalonia faced charges in court.

“What court forces a mother to hand her children to an abuser? We should think about this,” wrote one Twitter user, Ana Garcia @angarfi68.    

Others said she should be jailed for ignoring a court order.    “Is Juana Rivas in jail yet?” wrote another Twitter user Carlos Mas @carlos_fer_mas.

According to the Maracena municipal women's centre which is representing her, Rivas suffered “psychological and physical violence” at the hands of her ex-partner who was found guilty of abusing her in 2009.   

He filed a complaint for child abduction after she took their sons away in May 2016.

A Spanish court ruled the children should return to live with their father in Italy, arguing among other things that the eldest boy was evaluated by psychologists and was all right with seeing his father.   

Rivas told media after her release: “I don't want to be a fugitive, I came to explain my situation and ask for help.”   

In an interview with Italy's Ansa news agency, Arcuri denied any violence.    “I want to be able to hold my children again in my arms, I haven't seen them since last year,” he said.

MOTHER

Twins born to 64-year-old Spanish mother are taken into care

Mauricia Íbañez, who became Spain’s second oldest mother when she gave birth in February following fertility treatment in America, has lost custody of her twins.

Published: 10 April 2017 10:18 CEST
Twins born to 64-year-old Spanish mother are taken into care
Photo: pixavril/Depositphotos

Her son Gabriel and daughter Maria de la Cruz have been taken in care by social services after an investigation found there were “signs they could be at risk”.

Íbanez, a retired civil servant from a village near Burgos in northern Spain, also has a six-year-old daughter, Blanca, who was taken into care three years ago and now lives with a relative in Canada.

Last month she spoke of her fear that her newborns would be taken away from her.

“They're so defenceless, so delicate. I'm a bit afraid for them. I just ask God that they don't fall into the hands of social services,” she said in a revealing interview with El Pais.

She had explained that even her own family had been against her seeking fertility treatment, which she underwent in the US using donor eggs because clinics in Spain refused to assist her on account of her age.

READ MORE: 'A man of 65 can have a child, and yet they question a woman: why?'

After taking early retirement from the foreign office after being diagnosed with a paranoid personality disorder a decade ago, her own sister sought a court order to prevent her going abroad for treatment.

Ms Ibanez's has not commented publicly since her children were taken from her but her lawyer Juan Carlos Saiz told El Pais: “She is devastated and very traumatized.

“The first time this happened was very painful for her. This time it's even worse.”

News of the birth, which was announced by the hospital without revealing the identity of the mother, sparked furious debate in Spain over the ethics of becoming a mother well past the normal age of retirement.

Ibañez is one of the oldest women in the world to give birth, but is still two years younger than the current holder of the record, fellow Spaniard Maria del Carmen Bousada Lara, who also gave birth to twins.

Bousada, who was born on January 5th 1940, gave birth by Caesarean section to twin boys, Christian and Pau, a week before her 67th birthday at the Sant Pau hospital, Barcelona, Spain on December  29th 2006.

Unfortunately, her sons were orphaned at two years of age when their mother died of cancer.

Another Spanish woman, Lina Álvarez, from Lugo in Spain's northwestern region of Galicia, made headlines last October, when she gave birth to a healthy baby daughter at the age of 62.

READ ALSO: Spanish woman gives birth to 'miracle' baby at age of 62.