Norwegian woman held for abduction of daughter

ILOILO City—The Philippine National Police has arrested a Norwegian woman accused of abducting her daughter.

Hilde Synnove Ottesen, 44, was arrested on September 27 in Barangay (village)  Andagao at the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan by policemen from the Aklan Provincial Police Office and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), according to a belated report of the Western Visayas police office.

Her 15-year-old daughter was also taken into custody of the police women and children protection desk and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Ottesen was arrested based on a warrant of arrest issued on August 23 by the Nordmore District Court in Norway which was transmitted to the Interpol office in Manila.

Filed by husband

She is facing an abduction charge filed by her husband, said Senior Superintendent Cornelio Defensor, Aklan police director, in a telephone interview.

Ottesen has been in the country for five years including an undetermined period in Kalibo. She has been apparently hiding in the town staying at a rented house with her daughter who is enrolled in a school, Defensor said.

The police official said Ottesen was traced by Norwegian authorities in Kalibo after she had asked friends in Norway to send her money.

Ottesen and her daughter have been staying at the provincial police office at Camp Pastor Martelino in Kalibo pending turnover to the Norwegian embassy and the Interpol.

Defensor said that Ottesen’s lawyers have filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to question her arrest and continued detention.

“One of our concerns is that no one will take care of her daughter so we have to confine both of them here until they can be turned over to their embassy,” Defensor said.