Judge: let boy,10, say if he wants to stay in Malta

A judge wants to hear what a 10-year-old boy has to say on whether he prefers to live with his mother in Northern Ireland or with his father in Malta. The boy’s mother asked Mr Justice Robert Mangion to listen to her son and also to appoint a doctor to dispel allegations she suffered from alcoholism. She was supported in court yesterday by her Irish MP, Jim Wells, the incoming Health Minister of Northern Ireland, who came to Malta specifically. The woman lived in Northern Ireland with her former Maltese husband for five years until, in 1996, they returned to Malta before separating in 2002 shortly after their son was born. The boy had spent his life to date in his mother’s care and custody but was transferred to the father after an alleged drunken incident in Malta in May 2011. Through her lawyer, Yana Micallef Stafrace, the mother said in court yesterday thatthe two most important issues at hand were that the child was given a voice in court and that allegations of alcoholism were proven to be false. The father, assisted by lawyer Tania Sammut, said that it was not only a question of alcoholism but her character. She did not drink when alone but in front of the child and then...