Kidnapped Romani girl finally goes home to Czech Republic with her parents

Zdeněk Kapitán, director of the Office for the International Legal Protection of Children in Brno, Czech Republic, told the Czech Press Agency today that the Romani infant kidnapped on 4 July in Trmice (Ústí Region) is back with her mother. The family have retrieved their month-old daughter in Germany and are traveling home. "According to the latest information the family just left to bring their little daughter home," Kapitán said shortly before noon today.

The return of little Michala, who is now one month old, to Bohemia was also confirmed by the director of the Ústí police, Vladimír Danyluk. "After yesterday's [Friday's] identification of the DNA samples of the father, mother and little Michala, the other documents were processed and sent to our colleagues in Germany. On the basis of the correlation, nothing could keep little Michala from being handed over to her parents," Danyluk told the Czech Press Agency.

Czech Television reported that the mother traveled to Germany on Friday evening along with by several relatives in two carloads. They did not want the press to accompany them. Relatives of the kidnapped girl who remained behind in the Czech Republic told Czech Television the family had picked up a travel document for their daughter at a Dresden police station and then continued west. However, no one knew when the family was precisely to get the child back or when they would return to the Czech Republic.

Kidnapers grabbed the little girl on 4 July right from the pram her mother was pushing her in on the street and drove off with her to Germany. Images of their fleeing vehicle were captured by several police cameras. The car's original German license plate was covered up with a stolen Czech one. Thanks to the stolen license plate falling off, German police officers were able to trace the car to the rental agency that had loaned it out.

Police found the kidnapped child in the small town of Neuwied not far from Koblenz. German Police arrested three German women and one German man in relation to the case. Two people are now in custody. German officials did not want to return the kidnapped infant to her parents without unequivocally confirming through a DNA test that she really was related to the woman claiming to be her mother.