The Sydney Morning Herald reports this morning on the continuously disastrous ’60 Minutes’ child snatch operation, where the show allegedly paid an international child recovery agency to take back an Australian woman’s child from their father, who had taken them to Beirut.
The SMH has revealed a series of texts between the mother, Sally Faulkner, and one Simon Chapman, who runs a child recovery agency in Queensland which was considered, but ultimately not hired, for the Lebanon attempt.
The texts reveal Faulkner’s distress at how the operation turned out, as well as her attempts to secure from Chapman an exit from the country after original plans to escape fell through. The SMH alleges that Faulkner and her children had a “five hour window” where they could escape via a boat to Cyprus, but this was allegedly rejected by the ’60 Minutes’ crew.
“No offence, but I don’t think they are qualified to comment given how this current job has gone,” Chapman texted her after learning of the reluctance to take up the offer.
Chapman told Faulkner via text that the operation would cost €75,000. Faulkner suggested that ’60 Minutes’ could pay for the operation, but Chapman was unable to get a solid answer from the show’s producers, who told him they would “get back to [him]” but never did.
A spokesperson for Channel Nine told the SMH they would not comment on the allegations. It has been contended by Lebanese sources that it is not expected that the sentences for the mother will be extreme, given her desperate circumstances.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
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