ST. JOHN'S - Bouchra Marbouhi says she last saw her young daughter more than two months ago, when the girl left with her father for a routine sleepover.

The five-year-old never came home, she said.

Instead, Marbouhi said she got a series of texts the next day from her estranged husband, her daughter’s father, saying he had taken the child to Egypt. The Canadian Press has viewed the messages.

"I was shocked, I started crying," Marbouhi said in a recent interview. "I honestly felt like I was dreaming."

There was a temporary court order in place, forbidding the father from taking his daughter outside of St. John’s, N.L. But it wasn't enough to prevent her daughter's disappearance, Marbouhi said.

"I trusted the system to protect (my daughter) and I found out too late that how many gaps ar

See Full Page