EXCLUSIVE: Sister of man who abducted six Calgary children speaks out

The sister of the man who abducted six Calgary children to Ontario is speaking out, saying he was trying to protect them from their unfit mother and his common-law wife.

The children were reported missing on Monday, but the 49-year-old man was in contact with Alberta authorities as he brought them to Ontario where his family lives.

His sister, who isn’t being named to protect the identity of the children, tells City News the abusive mother is in rehab and her brother called her last week.

“I haven’t heard my brother cry in years,” she said, adding he needed help and support. “I said okay, well you’ve got to let children’s aid know, you’ve got to call a lawyer, get the advice, find out what’s going on.”

She said the lawyer told him to come to Ontario to file the proper paperwork with Children’s Aid and take custody.

Meanwhile in a press conference on Thursday, Calgary Police Sgt. Darren Smith said they couldn’t confirm if he was the father, just that he was the common-law husband.

They said the woman was away, but didn’t say where and that the children were left in his care.

While he’s not the legal guardian of the children, the sister said while in Ontario, he took a DNA test to prove he is the father.

“He was on his way back from the DNA test, stopped to go in and clean the vehicle out and he was arrested,” she said.

The sister said the mother has a long history of drugs and alcohol and Children’s Aid Services have been involved with the family.

“It’s just like when a woman and a man are in a relationship and lots of people say the woman’s abused, we don’t want to go back, we stay because of this reason,” she said. “It’s the same thing for him, he was in it, he was afraid to leave, he didn’t want to lose the kids, so he finally said enough is enough.”

Smith said the man was in contact with police throughout the week by email.

“The general tone was that the children were in no immediate threat and that he believed that he was doing what was right for the kids,” he said.

The SUV they were in was pulled over in a traffic stop and the man was taken into custody and he now faces six counts of child abduction under 14.

Smith said in every case like this, they have to weigh whether or not notifying the public is actually in the best interest of the investigation and they ultimately decided not to issue an Amber Alert.

“In this case, we actually were aware very early on that he was in Ontario and that the children were safe,” he said. “By actually putting out that media request, that actually may cause him to leave the jurisdiction where we believed he was.”

“We haven’t interviewed him as of yet to understand the true reasoning of why he brought them across country, generally speaking with any cases of parental abduction, it’s usually because they believe it’s in the best interest of the child.”

The mother still has guardianship of the children and authorities are working to reunite them.

Smith was asked if any charges against the mother are possible.

“Not at this point from us, but that will be an investigation that will be looked into later on,” he said, adding there’s no history between police and the family.

The sister said she’s surprised the man is facing charges and she hopes the truth will come out.

“They’ve never been harmed in their lives and the kids can talk for themselves,” she said.

The children range in age from 18 months to 11 years old.

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