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It was a crowed court room in Welland this afternoon as the mother of a nine-year-old girl at the centre of an amber alert earlier this month made an appearance. 38 year-old Allana Haist was arrested this morning in Hamilton following a plea from her father Sunday night on CHCH. Allana, the mother of 9-year-old Layla Sabry, was released on bail with strict conditions this morning in St.Catharines. It was one of two court hearings for the mother.
Haist’s father, Allan, said that their lawyer Natalie Portier had been negotiating with Layla’s father Mohamed Abdel-Motaleb’s family for a deal to bring Haist out of hiding. Haist surrendered her daughter’s passport and birth certificate to police this morning and the deal being negotiated would give Allana more time to deal with the case and Layla’s father, who lives in egypt, would not see his daughter until a court order had been made.
Over fifty supporters crammed into a Welland courtroom this afternoon, all wearing purple ribbons in support of Layla and her mother. Haist was arrested this morning on abduction charges after she and her daughter disappeared in the first week of December after Haist failed to appear in court December 2nd. Layla’s father alleges the abduction took place last year in Egypt where all three lived. Haist separated from her husband in 2013 and divorced a year later. Their daughter, Layla, was born in Egypt but has dual citizenship.The little girl had been living and attending school in the Welland area for the last year.
Layla is now in the custody of her father’s aunt who lives in the Welland area. Haist is scheduled to appear next month to a Welland courthouse to determine if the courts have jurisdiction in the case because there are on-going custody battles in Egypt where the case began.