Abduction charge filed against father of N.L. girl taken to Egypt despite court order

Bouchra Marbouhi says she last saw her daughter the morning of Friday, Sept. 26, when she got her ready for school. She told the girl that her father would be picking her up for a sleepover. 

“My birthday was the 29th. So she said, ‘Mommy, I made you a card for your birthday,’” Marbouchi, 31, said in a recent interview.

“I kissed her and I said, ‘Thank you. Where is it?’ She said, ‘It's in my bag. When I come back tomorrow I will show it to you.’”

But Marbouhi never got the card. 

Marbouhi said she has not seen her five-year-old daughter in more than a month, after the girl was taken from the country by her father, Ahmed ElGammal — despite a court order meant to stop him. 

CBC News is withholding the name of the child to protect her privacy.

“I miss her smell. I miss her voice. I miss her when she was being stubborn and silly,” said Marbouhi, clutching her daughter’s stuffed toy. 

“I miss her calling me mommy. I miss everything. When that happened, I feel like my life stopped.”

Police in Newfoundland and Labrador issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for ElGammal, 36, on charges of parental abduction in contravention of a custody or parenting order.

However, Marbouhi is anxious to confirm her daughter’s safety and get the kindergartener home.

According to text messages provided to CBC News and translated from Arabic, Marbouhi wrote to her estranged husband the morning after the sleepover asking for her daughter to be dropped off early. ElGammal replied that he wanted more time with her.

Then, at 5:46 p.m., ElGammal wrote: “[Our daughter] and I went back to our country.”

He added: “Do you want to [raise] her on our religion and ethics, you know where to find us.”

At first thinking it was an idle threat, Marbouhi said she drove immediately to St. John’s International Airport and called police while on the way.