Elina to go home with her dad, finally

Dubai: A jailed Sri Lankan father’s painful wait to reunite with his daughter is set to end soon.

Elina, 5, who had been in foster care since her father’s arrest in January, will accompany her dad this week to Sri Lanka when he will be released and deported. Both have been issued outpasses by the Sri Lankan Consulate in Dubai. “Dubai authorities who performed a DNA test on the man have issued us a statement testifying he is indeed the biological father of Elina.

“Based on that we have issued Elina, who did not have a birth notification till date, and Chris (name changed), who was living on an expired visa and passport, a one-time entry permit to Sri Lanka,” M.M. Abdul Raheem, Sri Lankan Consul General, told XPRESS.

Elina and her father had been roughing it out in temporary homes in public places for years since the man lost his job at an exchange house in 2009, just when she was born. Her Filipina mother had left them and returned to her home country barely three months after Elina was born in a Sharjah hospital.

XPRESS first highlighted her plight on January 16 when one of her father’s friends, a parlour worker who initially cared for her, sought help for the virtually orphaned and homeless girl.

A week later however the human rights department of Dubai Police swung into action reading the report and found Elina foster care at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC). Her father meanwhile faced more charges in police custody as it emerged he had not only racked up credit card debts, but also fathered Elina out of wedlock. He was then sentenced to a year in jail, after having already served time for debt-related charges.

“Those were the most agonising times of my life. Before going to jail, I had never spent a day without seeing Elina and here I had already spent months away from her. When I was given a fresh jail term, I was on the edge of giving up all hope,” Chris told XPRESS from Al Aweer Central Jail last week.

However his sentence was shortened to three months on April 17 following an appeal. The reduced term has now been served and he will be deported pending a few formalities.

“Its only a matter of time. I believe formalities are being completed,” said Captain Mohammad Nagi Alolaqi, head of cases affairs section at the general department of human rights, Dubai Police. His department even arranged for Elina to meet her dad last week. “It was the most emotional moment in our lives,” the father said.