A MOTHER whose 10-year-old son was allegedly abducted by relatives fears she may never see him again, following a court blow yesterday.
Briton Rebecca Jones claims Adam was kidnapped after they were duped into travelling to Qatar to visit his supposedly sick grandmother.
She was hoping the Cassation Court in Doha would grant her temporary custody of her son during a hearing, but instead the case was adjourned for another week.
The judge will now decide on who should receive full custody of the St Christopher's Junior School pupil, on November 12.
Mrs Jones left Bahrain with Adam on October 3 to visit her late Qatari ex-husband's family in Doha, leaving behind her husband of five years, Barrie, and the couple's four-year-old daughter Alex.
She earlier told the GDN that she and her son had spent two enjoyable days with the family who were the "perfect hosts".
However, on the day they were due to return home, Mrs Jones received a call at their hotel requesting Adam be allowed to visit his ill grandmother.
She agreed and a driver was arranged to pick him up.
Mrs Jones said Adam, who has dual British and Qatari nationality, called to confirm he had arrived at the house safely and she was told he would return after one hour.
Instead, the 43-year-old was asked by one of Adam's uncles to meet him to discuss an issue surrounding her son's inheritance and only then did she find out she had been tricked.
The next day, Mrs Jones' husband flew in and the couple filed kidnapping allegations with police and the Qatari Public Prosecution.
The couple have been staying in Doha since then to fight their case, leaving Alex in Bahrain with her nanny.
They are now in the middle of a custody battle to get Adam back to Bahrain, after being informed that his 77-year-old grandmother had filed for full custody.
Mrs Jones faces an anxious wait before going before the court next week to find out whether she will be given custody of the son she has raised since his birth in Bahrain.
However, she yesterday appeared to have lost all hopes of a positive outcome.
"I honestly have no hope in winning this custody case because something dodgy is obviously going on - especially after yesterday's hearing," said Mrs Jones.
She claimed Adam's relatives, who appeared in court with their lawyer, appeared to know the outcome of the hearing before it was announced.
"The judge told us he will not grant temporary custody to anyone right now and will decide who will get full custody next week," she said.
"We tried to speak to them (Adam's relatives) about his well-being but they refused and just told us to wait till next week.
"They seemed to know what was going on and I feel like a decision has already been made.
"How can anyone get away with something like this?"
Mr Jones said the couple were sceptical about how the case was being handled.
"We don't know what is happening and we have been given no reasons for yesterday's decision," he said.
After the hearing, Mrs Jones visited Qatar's Public Prosecution to follow up on the kidnap case she filed when Adam was first taken.
However, she said no further progress had been made and the couple were told to wait for more news.
"Nothing is being done in the kidnap case and we are being told to wait and see what happens next," said Mrs Jones.
"I've been told (by the Public Prosecution) that Adam is with his relatives, so there is no basis for kidnapping allegation.
"They are trying to turn this into a family dispute which it's not - this is kidnapping.
"No one is thinking of my son's well-being."
Mrs Jones' lawyer earlier submitted several documents supporting her case, including some relating to his schooling in Bahrain.
Papers showing he had enrolled in several programmes to learn about Arab culture were also presented to the judge, as part of the Qatari family's case centres around the fact that they believe it is wrong for him to be attending a British school.
Mrs Jones has not seen Adam since October 5 and says she has had no communication with her son's Qatari relatives.
The boy's friends, classmates and teachers earlier spoke of their shock and devastation at his sudden disappearance and the psychological effect the case could have on his mother.
The GDN previously reported that relatives told Mrs Jones that the papers she was being asked to sign were for her son's inheritance, but she refused to do so because they were in Arabic.
She claimed one of Adam's uncles, who had maintained a good relationship with them, assured her that the papers were about a piece of land her son and his grandmother owned, which they wanted to divide.
Mrs Jones, who was born in Sheffield, moved to Bahrain in 1988 and married Adam's father 10 years later.
Adam was born the following year, but the couple divorced in late 1999.
His father, Jamal, returned to Qatar, but visited Bahrain frequently, until he was killed in a motorbike accident in Qatar in November 2005.
Mrs Jones stayed in touch with his family and had taken Adam to visit relatives in Qatar several times since his father's death.
It is understood the Qatari family had originally planned to file the case last year but as Mrs Jones was not in Qatar, they were unable to get a court order to take Adam.
noor@gdn.com.bh
