Solved Zahra Baker case

[CAS79]

I'm actually starting this for a new visitor to the board who does not seem to be able to start threads yet, Sabot who is very interested in this case and the sad life of this little Australian girl who died at the hands of her American step mother in September 2010.

So Sabot over to your for your intro.

 

[Sabot]

I'm actually starting this for a new visitor to the board who does not seem to be able to start threads yet, Sabot who is very interested in this case and the sad life of this little Australian girl who died at the hands of her American step mother in September 2010.

So Sabot over to your for your intro.

Thank you, CAS.
I am a retired Brit and living in France for many years.
I followed this Case on an American Forum having been directed there by an Australian, long term, poster friend.
I don't personally think that Adam Baker had anything to do with the actual death of his daughter, or what happened to the poor child's body, and I shall keep my opinions of his parenting skills to myself for the moment. But I would like to know how he managed to remove Zahra from Australia without consent of her mother, who was paying Child Support for Zahra. Was this done legally?

I would also like to know what results were recovered from the skull that was found some time ago, but only because it might show how Zahra died. If it is indeed her skull.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Thank you, CAS.
I am a retired Brit and living in France for many years.
I followed this Case on an American Forum having been directed there by an Australian, long term, poster friend.
I don't personally think that Adam Baker had anything to do with the actual death of his daughter, or what happened to the poor child's body, and I shall keep my opinions of his parenting skills to myself for the moment. But I would like to know how he managed to remove Zahra from Australia without consent of her mother, who was paying Child Support for Zahra. Was this done legally?

I would also like to know what results were recovered from the skull that was found some time ago, but only because it might show how Zahra died. If it is indeed her skull.

Can't help you with the results as I have not been following too closely, but I would have thought the Hague Convention which has been so in vogue of late would work both ways and if Zahra's mother had any inkling where she was, she could get her sent home. For that reason, I am thinking she let her go. Only an assumption though.

 

[Sabot]

Can't help you with the results as I have not been following too closely, but I would have thought the Hague Convention which has been so in vogue of late would work both ways and if Zahra's mother had any inkling where she was, she could get her sent home. For that reason, I am thinking she let her go. Only an assumption though.

According to Zahra's mother, Emily Dietrich, who did post occasionally on this American Forum, she had spent a couple of years trying to find out where Zahra was because The Baker family had moved, again. And she actually found Zahra some days after the child was reported missing. This all seems to be true. But The Forum, The Hinkey Meter has gone now.
But from what I have managed to discover about Australian Law, removing Zahra did require Emily's signature of consent, which Emily says was never even asked for, and would not have been given.
I suppose that I tend to believe that Zahra was removed illegally. In which case, what would be done about this?

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

According to Zahra's mother, Emily Dietrich, who did post occasionally on this American Forum, she had spent a couple of years trying to find out where Zahra was because The Baker family had moved, again. And she actually found Zahra some days after the child was reported missing. This all seems to be true. But The Forum, The Hinkey Meter has gone now.
But from what I have managed to discover about Australian Law, removing Zahra did require Emily's signature of consent, which Emily says was never even asked for, and would not have been given.
I suppose that I tend to believe that Zahra was removed illegally. In which case, what would be done about this?

Not a lot would be done now. It just means that the offending parent has a black mark against their name in any custody battle, so that is a moot point. Had the outcome been different, and a custody battle resulted, they would have taken into account how long she had been living with the father, when the mother last had contact, whether the contact had been regular before, the reasons she lived with the father etc. As somebody who raised a daughter, the majority of the time with irregular contact with her mother, I can understand how these things happen.

He certainly failed his daughter in terms of packing her up and taking her to a strange new country, and pushing a stepmother on her, unless the two of them got along well initially. It seems the stepmother was fairly cruel to Zahra.

I have a new wife, and her and my daughter clash occasionally but I always make sure I am all over those clashes and I never entered into a new relationship before my daughter was nearly 12 and happy to stand up for herself. I have other acquaintances in the same boat with younger children and they tell me how the stepparent hasn't warmed to their child. Step parenting is hard and I have been there before too, but it is particularly so if you can't get your head around the fact that this is somebody else's child and you don't try to form a bond.

This one hits at the heart for so many reasons I can relate to, having had a stepmother myself, having been a stepfather, now with my daughter having a stepmother. That poor girl. I can't imagine what she endured, and how she must have wished her mother would find her, how her father would realise and put her welfare first. There must have been signs.

 

[CAS79]

According to Zahra's mother, Emily Dietrich, who did post occasionally on this American Forum, she had spent a couple of years trying to find out where Zahra was because The Baker family had moved, again. And she actually found Zahra some days after the child was reported missing. This all seems to be true. But The Forum, The Hinkey Meter has gone now.
But from what I have managed to discover about Australian Law, removing Zahra did require Emily's signature of consent, which Emily says was never even asked for, and would not have been given.
I suppose that I tend to believe that Zahra was removed illegally. In which case, what would be done about this?

This is actually nigh on impossible to answer because unless we see the terms of the custody agreement/order we don’t know.

It's standard practice to issue a passport only in the event both parents agree and sign but there are some cases were sole custody order will bypass this. If the mother effectively removed her parental decision making rights does not necessarily preclude a requirement of child support and with the right order the father could remove her from country legally.

Sabot, have you ever been told if the mother took steps to report to the family court the father was failing to abide by the terms of the agreement, did she report a kidnapping and was their a Hague Convention request made. Or were her efforts to locate her daughter a private endeavour?

Regardless I feel a great deal of pity for the woman because she appears to have acknowledged issues with parenting early and was looking for the Childs welfare by allowing the father custody. How sad he couldn’t live up to a decent parenting standard.

 

[Sabot]

Thank you both for your answers, both pertinent.
I had a stepmother which is possibly why this upset me so much, and my father remained largely oblivious to what was going on, so this could be for why I have given Adam Baker the benefit of the doubt, although he does appear to have been some distance away when the deed was done, and when the body was disposed of. But Zahra appears to have been dead in her bed for over a week without him knowing or noticing.

I repeat what Emily said, that she had severe post natal depression which is why she allowed Adam to take the child, but that she had great trouble keeping track of where Zahra was because The Baker Family moved several times. That The Child Support Agency wouldn't give her their address, by Law, apparently, and that trying to do something about it legally was expensive when she had very little money. I took this on trust as America was watching this avidly. As were The Police in Hickory, North Carolina.

There was so much that was so wrong about the whole thing, and too much to state in one post. But Eliza "Baker" was married at least five times, and without benefit of Divorce from previous husbands on at least two occasions, also with a large handful of Drugs Charges. And she doesn't appear to have been married to Adam as she had failed to divorce her previous husband, and quite possibly the one before that as well. So how she got into Australia, and married Adam is a mystery in itself. But I suspect that her expertise in this area aided Adam in getting Zahra to America, possibly with forged signatures and documents involved.
It appears to me that this latter was a Criminal Offence, and I do feel that something should have been done, and if so, what was done? I did not want Adam Baker prosecuted for something he didn't do, but I do feel that he got off way too lightly.

That poor child was let down by absolutely everybody who could and should have helped her.