Ont. woman accused of abducting sons, fleeing to Poland for 17 years denied bail following extradition

A Newmarket, Ont. woman accused of abducting her two young children in 2009 and fleeing to Poland sought bail a month after being extradited from Germany.

Edyta Ustaszewska Watkins, 52, was denied bail by Newmarket justice of the peace Linda DeBartolo, who ruled the defence failed to meet its onus to prove Ustaszewska Watkins could be released to a surety.

A longtime friend proposed herself as a surety, pledging $10,000 to try to bail Ustaszewska out. The plan was not accepted, and the accused was ordered detained and returned to jail. Any evidence heard during the bail hearing is protected by a publication ban.

CTV News has learned Ustaszewska Watkins had been living in Europe as one of Canada’s most wanted fugitives for the alleged kidnapping of her sons from their father, who had been awarded sole custody of his boys two months prior to their disappearance.

She was arrested in Germany and returned to Canada after allegedly absconding for nearly twenty years. She is charged with two counts of abducting a child under the age of 14.

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Her ex-husband Stephen Watkins told police that with help from her father, the accused took the boys following her court-ordered weekend with them in March 2009, traveling to New York before boarding a flight to Germany, then Poland.

In 2012, Ustaszewska’s father was convicted of helping her flee and received an 18-month conditional sentence, including a year under house arrest.

Watkins eventually tracked his boys down and petitioned a Warsaw court to return his sons.

With no extradition treaty in place between the two countries, his request was denied with the court ruling it would be detrimental for the children to return to Canada after they’d fully integrated into Polish society.

The Watkins boys who are now in their early 20s remained in Europe. It is unclear where they are now living while their mother is in jail and ordered by the court not to communicate with them or their father.

Ustaszewska Watkins will remain behind bars and is scheduled to make her next appearance in a virtual courtroom in two weeks. The allegations against her have not been tested in court.