A HEARTBREAKING video seen by a judge before he allowed a mum to travel to Ukraine to rescue her daughter shows the girl beg: “I am scared. Take me away from here.”
Olga Khomenko, 37, broke a court order by taking her daughter to Kyiv in 2017 due to an “abusive marriage” but was spared jail in a landmark ruling on Friday.
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A recording of Olga’s little girl taken from the basement, where she is currently sheltering from bombs with her elderly grandmother, was played to judge Michael Kay QC.
Clutching a white fluffy toy duck, she says: “Mum, you have sent me such a beautiful toy, and you promised a yellow one too. But I don’t need toys.
“I need you. I love you so much. There are explosions here. I am scared.
“Take me away from here. Come here as soon as possible. I love you very, very much.”
Olga will now travel to the Ukrainian border after landing in Poland.
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Speaking exclusively to The Sun today, she said: “Once I get to the border I believe I will be able to get a lift with someone in the direction of Kyiv, even if it is in the back of a truck taking supplies.
“I will not let anything stop me getting to my little girl now.
“I hope to be able to get through the blockades but I know I will be one of the only women heading towards the Kiev region and not away from it.”
The youngster is currently living in the region of the Ukrainian capital with only her grandmother and “can hear the bombs raining down”.
The pair had tried to escape the city by train but their attempt was thwarted when the railway station was bombed and they were turned back by Ukrainian soldiers.
At St. Albans Crown Court she entered a plea of guilty to abducting a child, and faced as many as five years behind bars.
She was given a two-year suspended sentence.
Last week Olga was granted 72 hours bail by the court to travel to Ukraine but only made it as far as the Polish border before having to turn back to adhere to the time limit and was desperate to be sentenced quickly in the hope of getting back her passport to make another attempt.
Judge Michael Kay said: “This court is in an impossible situation. I cannot begin to understand what the situation is on the ground in the Kyiv region.
“I imagine the system has broken down in terms of authority and the enforcement of the rule of law.
“It is a desperate situation, only truly desperate measures can be taken.
“I have never known a sentencing exercise in which the issue of saving a child in a foreign country has been a factor.
“It’s a decision that I would be amazed if any crown court has made before. These are extraordinary times.
“The criminal justice system has to have humanity.”
Judge Kay ordered the immediate release of her passport and she left the UK for Poland yesterday.
