A Givealittle page set up by a husband and wife believed to be in Syria – but wanted by NZ Police – has been closed.
More than $8000 will be returned to donors, Givealittle has said.
Chief executive Lythan Chapman confirmed the closure in the wake of the Waikato Times revealing police have charged Fatan Jalal Khalaf with perverting the course of justice by “providing false documents to the court claiming she has cancer”.
The fundraiser was launched after Khalaf and her husband Mohammad Albaher left the country while he was on bail. It raised $8216 purported to be for cancer treatment in Syria – and the couple’s return to New Zealand. [...]
Albaher is also sought by police and is under a border alert.
He faces charges including possession of “execution videos” as well as assault with a blunt instrument, threatens to kill and perverting the course of justice.
He left the country in May, while on bail and ahead of a court appearance scheduled for August, police have said.
Khalaf is facing charges alleging she “wilfully attempted to pervert the course of justice by providing false documents to the court claiming she has cancer”.
A second charge alleged she “made a false document, namely medical records, knowing it to be false and intending that it be acted as genuine”.
She also faces one charge of failing to appear at Hamilton District Court for a scheduled appearance on Wednesday. [...]
Former neighbours at Albaher’s Waipā address earlier told the Times they believed he had returned to Syria, with one neighbour also confirming the property had been raided by armed police on two occasions, and that after the last raid they left.
A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said police raided the property on two separate occasions about six months and three months ago. [...]
He said Albaher told him he was going back to Syria for a visit, and that another neighbour had been asked to feed their 12 cats.
“And then the contact ceased.”
The Times was also able to conform a border alert has been issued for Albaher, and he “will be stopped and arrested should he return to New Zealand”.
Waikato Times
