Hoang Vinh Le: Missing Vietnamese baby boy found in Sydney reunited with his grandmother
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A boy has been reunited with his grandmother after his mother said she gave him to a random woman in a coffee shop more than a year ago.
Hoang Vinh Le, two, was reunited with his delighted grandmother Kim Huong Tran in late September, 16 months after he was reported missing.
In a bizarre missing persons case that stunned Australia, his mother Lyn Kim Do said she handed Vinh over to a woman named ‘Kathy Nguyen’ — along with $200 to care for him — in May 2021 after they met in a coffee shop in Cabramatta in Sydney. West.
The young mother was jailed for contempt after refusing to say where he was or give details about his new caretaker.
Now, after more than a year, Vinh has been found, telling his grandmother A current matter he had been abandoned for three days in a daycare center in Campsie, south-west Sydney.
Vinh has been found again and his grandmother told A Current Affair that he had been abandoned in a daycare center in Campsie, south west Sydney.
The little boy’s disappearance followed a court order dated April 19 last year that the youngster had to live with his maternal grandmother after a family dispute. His parents refused to extradite him
“The missing boy has been found,” grandmother Kim said on Tuesday. “Finally I have it back.”
On September 25, Kim received a surprise call from the police who put Vinh on a video call to confirm that she recognized him.
She was eventually told how he had been abandoned in a Sydney daycare center, the grandmother claimed.
She said she was told that a young woman had taken Vinh to the nursery and had asked staff to keep him there for 12 hours.
After three hours, the young woman called to say she urgently needed to go to Vietnam for a funeral.
“She wanted to keep him there for a day, but the lady says, ‘No, I don’t fit overnight. You have to come pick him up,” and for three days no one picked him up,” Kim said.
The center’s staff eventually recognized his father Hoang Thanh Le when he picked him up and called the police.
After a paternity test confirmed Vinh’s identity and an emergency court hearing gave Kim custody, she was finally allowed to take him home.
However, Vinh initially struggled to remember her and now no longer responds to his name.
‘I don’t know what they called him, another name. I call him Vinh or before I called him Vincent,” Kim said.
“He has a rash, so he itches a lot, so I always have to scratch him.
On September 25, Kim received a call from the police asking for her grandchild’s name, date of birth and where he was lost. Then she was shown Vinh during a video call with the police to confirm that she recognized him
After a paternity test confirmed Vinh’s identity and an emergency court seat awarded Kim custody, she was finally allowed to take him home
‘He cries at night. So when he sleeps, I’m always there with him. I think he’s a little scared because he just doesn’t want anyone to leave him.’
When discussing the case, NSW Police Inspector Timothy Liddiard described it as “unique” and “complex”.
“We have conducted a number of open investigations, including house searches,” he said.
He revealed that during house searches, police found evidence that Vinh found car seats, diapers, toys and clothing in several buildings, but could never locate the child himself.
“But in the end it was very satisfying to reunite the family,” he added.
“We definitely need to finalize some where we should try to track Vinh’s movements for that period.”
Kim helped raise Vinh when the couple broke up shortly after his birth in June 2020.
She got custody of him before the parents changed their mind and were given a court order so that he could stay with his father Thanh.
However, Kim refused to hand over Vinh.
Thanh then took the child on April 9 last year, which was the start of a bizarre series of events.
Hoang Vinh Le (pictured), who was 19 months old when he was last seen, has been missing since May last year
In an affidavit, his mother said she left baby Vinh with his godmother because she “couldn’t give him the care he needed” and she “didn’t want him to live with her mother.”
His father took the child out of a doctor’s waiting room and left his grandmother devastated.
“I have been ordered by the federal court that the child must live with me until the age of 18, otherwise I would not take the child,” Thanh told police at the time.
In a Facebook post from Thanh in May 2021, he shared photos of Vinh.
‘I just want to inform everyone that me and my partner and our son Hoang Vinh Le are safe and all live happily together there because (sic) we will not be missed. So I don’t know why we are on the missing persons list LOL.’
A week later, the parents were arrested. But there was no trace of their son.
In an affidavit, Do said she left baby Vinh with his godmother because she “couldn’t give him the care he needed” and she “didn’t want him to live with her mother.”
His mother Lyn Kim Do, 21, was found guilty of contempt in Australia’s Federal Circuit and Family Court in February and sentenced to six months behind bars.
It is the second time Do has been jailed for contempt for her son Vinh, having been given a week-long early sentence for not following orders regarding the child.