Mother’s elaborate plan to ‘take back’ her children goes horribly wrong | 60 Minutes Australia

who could forget the traumatic scene as four young girls were dragged kicking and screaming from their mother and put on a plane home to italy it was the culmination of the most extraordinary battle between australian mum laura garrett and her italian husband tommaso vincenti last year we revealed how laura conspired with australia's embassy in italy to breach the hague convention and kidnap her own children tonight the case against laura deepens you'll see how she manipulated her daughters to win sympathy from the public and then waged a torrid facebook campaign against tommaso now laura's friends are turning on her and an old accusation has come back to haunt her [Applause] it was the traumatic climax to a very public ordeal four girls dragged screaming from their mother laura garrett by police the girls running and then other girls running girls resisting screaming my name is emily vincenti and i'm 14 years old italian-born emily claire christine and lily vincenti were illegally brought to australia by laura my name is lillian enchanti and i'm nine years old when her relationship with husband tommaso broke down now they were going back to italy baby except we can now reveal these heart-wrenching scenes were an act orchestrated by laura her mother kate and grandmother carol [Applause] i can't just walk away i have to tell this story melissa and troy thompson lived through it all only to eventually come to believe that they along with the australian public had been manipulated i was really upset that i was i was part of this and i was made part of this by you know deception it's not true melissa and troy had gone through a custody dispute in america involving melissa's daughter morgan it was what drew them to laura and her girls i can remember saying i'm going to get to know this family and i'm going to help this family because i feel so bad that they're going through this so you used your hearts not your heads yes the thompsons didn't just provide moral support they set up trust accounts for cash donations coming in from hundreds of supporters did you give them money i did we gave them several thousand dollars for legal costs any idea of how much money they've received from others as well it's tens of thousands um we couldn't tell you how many tens of thousands but it is tens of thousands [Music] but the italian courts considered laura's actions to be a case of kidnapping and the girls were going back it's my world my whole world destroyed and i'm terrified of what's gonna happen so laura and her family created a shocking scene for the media the tears and the screaming all planned to convince the australian public the girls were terrified of their father but almost as shocking is who was asked to coach the girls to act for the cameras [Music] she wanted me to tell them what's possible so that they know how to fight back the thompson's teenage daughter morgan had befriended emily claire christine and lily she was called by laura's mother kate and told to instruct the girls how to perform so what did she expect you to say to them like if you get on the plane open the door and threaten to jump off things like that so that they would refuse to put the girls on the plane in the first place and did you do that yep she told them you know when you go when you get on the plane scream out that you don't want to be there make sure the crew know that you don't want to be on the plane hang on to the chairs if you need to kick and scream in the chairs and the tactic worked the two eldest emily and claire had to be taken off the plane and held for another 24 hours in australia before finally leaving the next night last year laura claimed to us that this confrontation was entirely due to heavy-handed tactics by australian federal police it was a situation that happened so fast and it was so terrifying and your kid's screaming mummy helped me but laura's mom kate posting under a pseudonym on facebook gave quite a different account laura said they're all calm but when the feds showed up they started screaming and carrying on which is what they planned to do when the afp arrived that's when they knew how to act that's right that's right it was well planned dramatically executed and swayed the sympathy of a nation [Applause] and laura and her family's bitter campaign against tommaso continued when the girls were back in italy with their dad trying to disrupt their new lives with him there were threatening phone messages left by kate and i am going to reveal that you have been watching your daughters when they undress and i'm going to go to the press with it and there was a social media war for months melissa ran the facebook page where laura's family and supporters posted hate messages about tommaso girls if you can read this boil some water and throw it over him the messages were always intended for the girls to be read in italy the girls can read that page they have access to that page they have liked that page they read everything on that page and that is how they get the message to the girls even today in italy tommaso must deal with daily facebook messages to his daughters from australia some suggesting ways to make his life impossible put his pc in bathtub nail under car tyre phoning dishwasher destroy the car of the father make the hell in the family scream and stole the money from his pocket destroy his computer this is the message from the mother it's a sadly familiar theme in this terrible family saga the girls being told time after time their father was a monster the reason we don't want to um go with our dad in back initially is because we are scared of him they thought that their father um was a violent man they thought that their father didn't pay any child support they thought that their father didn't love them and they'd had these ideas reinforced over and over again in their minds so who'd want to be in part of that who would want to be part of that the sad thing is none of that was true the reluctance the children felt to to return to their father do you do you really believe that all came from brainwashing yes i do yes is the independent italian state appointed lawyer responsible for the girls well-being multu very recently i saw a message i read a message which indicated all the possible ways to try to make the dad's life impossible as somebody who is concerned about the girl's welfare what was your reaction to seeing a message like that frankly my first reaction was this woman is mad and according to italian authorities laura and kate's claims of tommaso's abuse are unproven and unfounded so in your opinion are the girls physically safe in his care i'll see yes yes i can frankly say this without a shadow of doubt he's not a dad who hits them or does anything that would endanger their health or well-being or security no [Music] and it's now clear that tommaso is not the only man who has been demonised by this family with devastating effects [Music] last year laura also told us when she was 14 she was sexually assaulted by a melbourne man who was duly convicted it was a family friend who sexually abused me he was prosecuted for that in court he was found guilty who's family friend a friend of my mother's he was um a business associate i'd known two three years laura had been in hospital about six weeks he took advantage of a sick child [Music] the man laura and kate accused of sexual assault was convicted primarily on their testimony and spent two years in jail but in 1998 the high court of australia acquitted him in that acquittal the court found a stark inconsistency between laura's testimony and the man's alibi on the day he was supposed to have committed the sexual assault in layman's terms it meant laura's accusations could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt the man chose not to talk to 60 minutes but his family told us his life had been ruined by the allegations made against him and the time he subsequently spent in prison some of the things that are coming out in these documents finally melissa and troy started to question laura's many stories and eventually examined the records which she said proved to masso's alleged violence but they didn't nothing nothing that those that family has told me has come to be truth nothing nothing nothing what the documents did show was that laura had lied to tommaso to get him to sign the girl's passport applications in italy this is what she told us last year did you tell the australian embassy that you had told him that you're taking the kids just for months holiday it was stephen just to hold that i'm asking i'm asking your daughter kate i'm asking laura when the father signed those passports he signed both passports for permanent relocation but that lie is now laid bare in her own documents this fake receipt for a month's campervan hire laura gave to marso to convince him she was just planning a holiday in australia you know when you reflect on how you so prepared to financially and emotionally help this family to the extent of even coaching in part the girls i mean you look back on that and what do you say about your own involvement i i was um at the time you're in it you're thinking i'm i'm gonna help these people and i'm gonna defend them you know and and then when you realize that you were actually helping them you know hurt the children it's it's a big eye-opener sorry bridging the divide between a family torn apart is hard enough when that divide stretches from australia to italy it's seemingly impossible by fleeing italy illegally with her children laura has one option if she wants to be reunited with them she has to come back and time and time again we're being told here there is no legal reason why she can't but the saga goes on just this week another friend of the girls called italian authorities to accuse tommaso of violence towards his daughters the claims were investigated and again rejected this is the bed of christine and ander lillian italian social workers for the girls are considering restricting their telephone and internet access to their mother and to the facebook site that constantly attacks tommaso saying both are disrupting the girls chances add a normal life in italy if the mother continuing in this way is impossible for the girl to retro in australia and also for me and now the life is in italy and i hope the mother written in italy do you think there will be long-term damage to the girls long damage i hope no when you look your daughter suffer you suffer and i am ready to suffer for my girls yes i hope is no long-term damage but i don't know because it's a terrible what's happened to my girls yes hello i'm tara brown thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the nine now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,286,172

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, Laura Garrett, abduction, kidnapping, kidnap, Tommaso Vincenti, italy, separated, torn apart, queensland, laws, children, custody, battle, manipulation, lies, false records, family, florence, rome, sunshine coast, AFP, Federal police

Id: daNaA15e9WE

Length: 15min 16sec (916 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 14 2020