Episode 2: Not without my daughters

Summary

Troubled Waters – Episode 2: Not Without My Daughters

Podcast: Troubled Waters (Casefile Presents)
Episode 2: Not Without My Daughters
Date: June 16, 2024

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Overview

This emotionally charged episode of “Troubled Waters” delves deep into the childhood and formative experiences of Louisa Ioannidis—specifically the harrowing years she, her mother Helen, and her sister spent trapped in Libya after a calculated act of family betrayal. The episode uncovers a story akin to a Hollywood thriller—complete with international kidnapping, domestic abuse, and a daring escape—that shaped Louisa’s fate. Hosted by private investigator Julia Robson and producer Clare McGrath, the episode brings together firsthand accounts, family testimony, and narrative storytelling to paint a vivid picture of trauma, resilience, and systemic failure.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Overlooked Tragedy ([01:07]–[01:56])

• Louisa's death in 2011 received scant media attention, being reduced to a two-line note in a local paper.
• The narrative sets out to reveal the far more complex and dramatic reality of her life leading up to her untimely death.

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2. The Ioannidis Family Background and Dynamics ([02:54]–[06:11])

• Louisa was born in the late 1980s; her brother Tas was 13 years older.
• Their mother, Helen, and Tas’s father separated early; Tas largely grew up in Australia, Helen in Greece, resulting in limited sibling bonding.
• Helen remarries a Libyan man, which creates a new family unit and seeds future conflicts.

Notable Quote:
“My dad got full custody of me from a young age, and usually a kid of that age usually goes with its mum, but... my father was in a better position economically... So that’s how he got custody of me.” — Tas ([03:52])

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3. Migration, Tension, and Hidden Agendas ([05:36]–[09:29])

• The blended family starts in Australia, then travels back and forth between Australia, Libya, and Greece.

• Helen’s husband funnels earned money to build a house in Libya, foreshadowing his intentions.

• Tas cautions his mother:
  “Listen, mum, be careful going there, okay? Because one day, you know, he might decide to not want to come back and you’ve got no option.” ([07:04])

• In 1997, Helen is convinced to bring her daughters to Libya under the guise of a short trip, but the reality is much more dire.

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4. Betrayal in Libya: Trapped and Powerless ([09:29]–[14:10])

• Upon arrival, Helen’s husband reveals his plan:
  “The girls and my mum were over there holidaying and then all of a sudden he says, no, we’re not going back. We’re staying right here.” — Tas ([11:19])

• Domestic violence and control: Helen refused to wear a burqa and follow his new restrictions, leading to violence and threats to separate mother and daughters.

• Legal and diplomatic avenues fail Helen:
  “She tried to go to the embassy there... but the laws were different and... they supported the father in Libya.” — Helen's Friend ([13:49])

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5. Desperation and An Attempted Return ([14:10]–[16:41])

• Helen is forced to return alone to Australia to strategize, fundraise, and seek legal help, gathering resources over two years.

Notable Quote:
“She got in contact with lawyers... A lady in the Greek welfare society... said to her, listen, this could take on forever. You don’t have the funds. Go back there, play the game and I will help you escape.” — Helen’s Friend ([15:47])

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6. The Custody Trap and a Life Behind Walls ([16:41]–[19:31])

• Helen returns to Libya, eventually wins custody—but cannot legally leave the country with her daughters.
• They are forced to live behind a wall in their father's mansion—segregated, impoverished, surveilled.

Notable Quotes:

• “He designated just a corner, like a very small part of the house... built this wall separating... So that’s where they were going to spend the rest of their lives, supposedly.” — Tas ([17:27])
• Photos show bare living conditions: "Look at the bars on the window... and they're still managing to smile." — Tas ([19:08])

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7. Abuse, Trauma, and Resilience ([19:31]–[22:11])

• Daily life involves violence, poverty, and psychological trauma.

• “Those little girls, they were traumatized, they were bashed, my mum was bashed severely. They had to walk kilometers just to get some water in buckets.” — Tas ([20:14])

• Louisa’s friend Indigo recalls,
  “She just talked about hearing... her dad get home from work and eating dinner and stuff with his other family... while her and her mum and her sister were on the other side... She didn’t have a lot of respect for her dad at all... but she loved her mum.” ([20:49])

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8. Family Intervention and International Appeals ([22:11]–[23:50])

• Helen’s brother Nico attempts to intervene; he sends desperate faxes describing humiliation and danger.
• Excerpt from Nico’s letter:
  “Every day he terrifies and blackmails her... In these cases, words can’t describe the situation. Only if you live these incidences could you understand the drama she and the children are going through. ... A woman is like a worm with no human rights.” — Nico ([22:57])

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9. The Daring Escape ([24:04]–[26:12])

• With the aid of “angels”—local men recruited for a fee—Helen escapes with Louisa and her sister.
• Louisa’s fluency in Arabic is crucial to the success of their clandestine flight.

Notable Quote:
“It is very, very similar experience to that [the film Not Without My Daughter], right? If not worse... had to leave in the late hours of the night... in and out of six different cars... you’re met with guards with guns and... these people don’t hesitate to use them.” — Tas ([25:43])

• Their route takes them through Libya, Egypt, and Italy, finally returning to Greece and then to Australia—after three years away.

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10. Aftermath and Lasting Impact ([26:12]–End)

• The emotional damage of years in Libya, the trauma of betrayal and escape, leaves a mark on all family members.
• The episode closes with a sense of foreboding: though they escaped to safety, the scars endure.

Notable Quote:
“She lost her life. I mean, in vain. To see all this unfold was just tragic.” — Tas ([28:08])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• "Listen, mum, be careful going there… one day, he might decide to not want to come back and you’ve got no option.” — Tas ([07:04])
• “No way. I wanted to take the girls. She couldn’t. He was very aggressive, very violent to her. He asked her to leave. If you don’t want to follow my rules, F off.” — Helen’s Friend ([12:04])
• “Those little girls, they were traumatized, they were bashed, my mum was bashed severely...” — Tas ([20:14])
• “In these cases, words can’t describe the situation. Only if you live these incidences could you understand the drama she and the children are going through.” — Nico ([22:57])
• “If you’ve seen the movie Not Without My Daughter, it’s a very, very similar experience to that, right? If not worse.” — Tas ([25:43])

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Timeline of Key Segments

• [01:07]–[02:54]: Setting the stage—Louisa’s ignored death, media neglect.
• [02:54]–[06:11]: Early family history, migrations, blended relationships.
• [06:11]–[09:29]: Escalating tension, foreboding about Libyan journeys.
• [09:29]–[14:10]: The trap is sprung—abduction in Libya, failed escape attempts.
• [14:10]–[16:41]: Helen’s interim return to Australia, planning and support.
• [16:41]–[19:31]: Winning custody, life behind the wall, daily deprivation.
• [19:31]–[22:11]: Childhood trauma and consequences; shielding and family secrecy.
• [22:11]–[23:50]: Family intervention and accounts from Nico.
• [24:04]–[26:12]: The escape: logistics, danger, reliance on trusted strangers.
• [26:12]–End: Aftermath, the journey home, and lasting trauma.

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Conclusion

This episode exposes the hidden trauma of Louisa Ioannidis’ childhood, portraying how cultural, legal, and systemic failures can leave women and children doubly victimized. The Ioannidis family's international ordeal—family violence, institutional barriers, and the ultimate escape—sets a crucial backdrop for understanding Louisa's life and her tragic fate.

The story continues: The episode ends on a cliffhanger, foreshadowing how these formative traumas would influence the years leading up to Louisa’s mysterious death.

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Transcript

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[Tas]

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[Narrator]

This podcast contains content that may be upsetting to some listeners. Before continuing, please prioritise your own wellbeing and mental health. Please check the show notes for more detailed descriptions of the episodes after the tragic discovery of Louisa ioannidis body on October 11, 2011, the grim finding received little attention. In fact, her death barely made it into the local paper, the Preston Post Times, attracting just a small two line statement. Woman Identified Police recovered the body of.

[Leah Thomas]

A woman from Darabin Creek near Tyler.

[Narrator]

Street, Preston, on October 11th. Investigations have confirmed the identity of the female and determined her death was not suspicious. Police would like to thank residents who provided assistance. Unbeknownst to the paper, Louisa's short but tragic life was actually the stuff of Hollywood movies. Before we delve into Louise's formative years, it's important to understand why her childhood is such a crucial part of her story. Louisa's remarkable early life, marked by a kidnapping, an international rescue and a daring escape, holds the key to many factors that shaped her future. While her final days will be explored in later episodes, this episode will reveal the tragic childhood turn that may have led her to those fateful moments. Episode 2 Not Without My Daughters.

[Helen's Friend]

Let'S.

[Narrator]

Step back in time to the late 1980s when Louisa came into the world. By that time, her older half brother Tas was already celebrating his 13th birthday, and her family story was about to take an extraordinary turn. Tas's parents were both from Greece and had moved to Australia in the late 1970s before he was born. They separated just a few years later, and Tas lived with his father in Melbourne while his mother, Helen, returned to Greece. This meant that Tas spent a lot of time travelling back and forth between Greece and Australia, and it's one of his earliest memories.

[Tas]

My mum was based in Greece for a long period of time. My dad was here, so, you know, the amount of times I went back and forth was endless, you know, it was.

[Narrator]

While based in Greece, Tass's mum, Helen, met her second husband. He was originally from Libya, but had been working in Greece, where they met and fell in love.

[Tas]

She stayed there for a period of time in Greece before she met her second husband, while I was living with my dad back here in Australia. So my dad got full custody of me from a young age, and usually a kid of that age usually goes with its mum, but, you know, my father was in a better position economically as well and had strong contacts with the legal system and lawyers and that, and so that's how he got custody of me. Now, meanwhile, my mum was living for a lengthy period of time in Greece and that's where she met her second husband, a Muslim from Libya. Yeah, and she got married there.

[Narrator]

Tas would have been about 12 years old when he travelled to Greece to watch his mother get remarried.

[Tas]

I remember my mum being dressed beautifully in white. She seemed very happy at the time and, yeah, a lot of flowers, a lot of singing and dancing, I guess, but, yeah, it just seemed like a normal kind of wedding, I guess. And I was really happy for my mum, but little did I know what was going to turn out to be.

[Narrator]

A short time after the wedding. And while based in Greece, Louisa was born a few years later in 1990. The family grew once again with the arrival of Louise's younger sister. Although she will be mentioned in certain parts of this podcast, her involvement in the overall narrative has been limited. While she supports the release of this series, since the passing of her sister, her mental and physical health has continued to suffer. It was also during the early 90s that Helen and her new family decided to move back to Australia in search of a better life.

[Tas]

Australia has always been known as the land of opportunity and everything that goes with it. Right. My mum was, of course, an Australian citizen, so they made the call to come to Australia and better their life. That seemed to, you know, to be. To be going well for a period of time. They came here, bought a house in Reservoir. They were there for a number of years. He was doing night delivering of bread in a truck for a period of time. Yeah, so they seemed to be all right. I was visiting them from time to time.

[Narrator]

Even as a teenager, Tas's young age didn't prevent him from noticing the turbulent relationship building between his mother and stepfather. It was a complex family dynamic and as a result, he spent most of his time with his own father, limiting his opportunities to bond with his half sisters. It seemed there was increasing tension between their mother, Helen, who wished to stay in Australia, and her husband, who wanted to return to his home country of Libya. In fact, ever since Louisa was an infant, her father had been travelling between Libya and Australia, sometimes accompanied by the family and other times alone. Throughout this time, while Louisa's mother worked hard to provide for her children. According to Tass, Louise's father had secretly been funnelling a portion of this money back to Libya to construct a house in his home country.

[Tas]

At that point, after a couple of years, a few years of being here, then they decided to go back and forth to Libya, right as a holiday supposedly. But every time he was going there, he was building a house, this monstrosity of a house as well. And they kept that going for at least five, six years, you know, back and forth every year with family. At that stage I was a little bit older too and you know, I'd heard a few things about Libya and I kept on telling my mum, listen, mum, be careful going there, okay? Because one day, you know, he might decide to not want to come back and you've got no option. There's only one entrance and one exit. That's it. That was all. He just struck me off a little a bit about that. Don't worry, everything's going to be alright. And yeah, surely enough it wasn't all right.

[Narrator]

Libya, situated on the Mediterranean coast in North Africa, boasts a rich and intricate history and culture. However, it's also a country known for its reputation of political instability in ongoing conflicts. These factors have consistently raised safety concerns for both the residents of Libya and visitors to the country, even in today's society. But it was back around 1997, when Louisa was around 10 years old and her younger sister was six, when the family departed Australia for what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. The holiday had been presented by Louise's father as a two week overseas trip consisting of a week in Libya to spend time with his family and view the house he had been building, followed by another week in their mother's homeland of Greece. This was meant to be the holiday where both sets of grandparents would spend precious time with their youngest grandchildren. But of course, it was not without trepidation, Libya isn't exactly topping any list for the best family friendly destination. In 1997, when Louisa and her family travelled there, Muammar Gaddafi still held a tight grip on power. A dictator ruling with an iron fist, he was the leader of Libya until he was overthrown and killed in 2011 during the Libyan civil war. For many in the Western world, Libya had come into sharp focus nearly 10 years earlier in 1988 with the tragic bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland.

[Tas]

A quiet Scottish village. An inferno of flames after a Pan American jumbo jet homeward bound across the Atlantic went off the radar and went down in the village center. There are no reports of any survivors.

[Narrator]

The attack, attributed to Libyan agents, claimed the lives of 270 people from multiple nations. It was this horrifying event that brought attention to Libya's involvement in state sponsored terrorism and highlighted the country's strained relations within the international community. It's also worth mentioning Libya's conservative Muslim society holding different expectations around women's behaviour and dress, which would have been a stark contrast to Louisa's experiences in Australia. Despite the challenges and safety concerns, Louise's father insisted on including Libya as the first leg of their journey. Greece, her mother's homeland, lay just across the Mediterranean Sea where they planned to visit family. So with that, they ventured off, determined to make the most of their trip. Tas stayed behind in Australia. He had already reached the age of 21, entering young adulthood and pursuing his own independent life. Despite any lingering concerns he may have had. He wished his mum and sisters well on their journey and eagerly anticipated seeing them back in Australia safe and sound. While the exact sequence of events that unfolded after their arrival in Libya is challenging to verify, various accounts share a similar narrative to TAS's. According to Tass, it became evident shortly after their arrival that Louise's father had concealed his true intentions. He had no plans to continue travelling to Greece or for that matter, return to Australia at all.

[Tas]

The girls and my mum were over there holidaying and then all of a sudden he says, no, we're not going back. We're staying right here. We're living right here.

[Narrator]

We will be back after a short break. A family friend also recalls her understanding of what happened.

[Helen's Friend]

Once I got to Libya, he just said, nah, that's it, forget it, you're not going back. If you want to stay here, it's going to be this way. I'm not giving you the girls.

[Narrator]

Upon opening a gift box from her husband, Helen allegedly found a burqa inside and was directed to start wearing it immediately when she didn't comply with his instructions. According to Helen's friend. He resorted to violence.

[Helen's Friend]

They're changing the religion. It was just. She was shock, horror. You have to get covered up. You have to. It was just awful, awful. And Helen said, no way. I wanted to take the girls. She couldn't. He was very aggressive, very violent to her. He asked her to leave. If you don't want to follow my rules, F off.

[Tas]

My mum was all beside herself. What do you mean? Her life's back in Australia. Listen, I'll do you a favour and allow you to go back to Australia. But the girls are staying here. Yeah. So that's when all the other drama started.

[Narrator]

According to those who knew her, the shocking revelations left Helen feeling trapped in a foreign country where she didn't speak the language or understand the customs, with no family or connection she could turn to. There she grappled with the deep concerns for her own safety and the well being of her children, who were now under the control of a man who had completely betrayed her trust. Helen was now in a desperate situation, devastated and unable to defend herself, let alone protect her children. People we've spoken to say Helen felt she had no choice but. But to comply with her husband's demands. In the midst of all this turmoil, her husband had enrolled the children in school, further complicating matters, as Louisa and her sister experienced bullying by the teachers in the classroom. With memories of her life and son back in Australia, Helen knew she needed to find a way to get her and her daughters out of Libya. The problem was her husband would apparently only let her leave on her own.

[Helen's Friend]

And then she tried to go to the embassy there, she tried to go everywhere, but the laws were different and changed and she wouldn't get any support because they supported the father in Libya. So then she went back to Greece. She went to the Australian embassy. They said, yeah, there is a way, but you need money, you need to do this, you need to do that.

[Narrator]

Exhausted of all options, Helen felt compelled to make the heartbreaking decision to return to Australia without her daughters, unsure of what the future held for them.

[Tas]

My mum came back here all distraught. She was beside herself. She didn't know what to do. I picked her up from the airport.

[Narrator]

Upon returning to Australia, Helen promptly started raising funds to go back to Libya and initiate legal proceedings for custody of the children. She was able to sell the family home and additional funds were also raised by her friends and family. This process involved spending every last cent she had.

[Tas]

And that started the struggle of, you know, just putting a plan together so she can go back and get her Kids. She stayed here for a period of maybe a year or two, gathering herself up and putting a plan together and seeing what she was going to do. And at that point I was, I'd finished high school and started my own business, a panel shop. At that point, you know, I was considering going with her to Libya and helping her with getting the kids out. And then my dad got involved, you know, with my mum, you know, just giving her grief about why she's getting me involved, you know, such a young kid, risking my life to go there, this, that, the other. Anyway, I mean, cut a long story short, I didn't go with her as such, but, you know, I gave her some financial support just to get her to help her with the whole mission, because it was a big mission.

[Narrator]

Despite the challenges, Helen did not give up.

[Helen's Friend]

She got in contact with lawyers, she got in contact with people. And then a lady in the Greek welfare society, I don't remember her name, said to her, listen, this could take on forever. You don't have the funds, go back there, play the game and I will help you escape. And she goes, how am I going to do that? She goes, you go back and you just follow everything he says. Let him gain your trust and then find a way. I will tell you when and you will just take the girls and once you're out of, out of Libya, just run for your life, run for the hills. And that's what she did.

[Narrator]

Even though she couldn't speak Arabic, Helen was determined to secure legal custody of her daughters.

[Helen's Friend]

Helen's family in Greece, her brother and her mother supported her at the time and said, go back and we will connect you with a few people we know there that will be able to help you.

[Tas]

She had lost me from a young age, she just didn't want to do that again. So that was her plan. So she went back, she went through the legal system to get her kids back and she was successful. She was successful in getting the kids back custody of her, but on the condition that she was not able to leave the country. So it was a double edged sword. But yeah, she got custody because they were so young, the kids were so young and they needed to be with their mother.

[Narrator]

Even with the odds stacked against her, Helen's unwavering determination led her to win the custody battle. But as Tas mentions, there were conditions attached to this hard fought achievement. Her fight wasn't over yet and there were more challenges to face.

[Tas]

So the conditions were that she could have the girls, but she couldn't leave the country. So she was stuck. And this rat bag, I'll call him a rat bag. Her husband designated just a corner, like a very small part of the house to them for the girls to live in, and had built this wall separating his house, his mansion house, to a small living quarters that the girls would live in. So that's where they were going to spend the rest of their lives, supposedly. And he was quite happy with that because he knew that, you know, the girls couldn't go anywhere and that they lived in the back, locked up pretty much like dogs, like peasants.

[Narrator]

With her funds now drained after spending it pursuing custody of the children, Helen had no choice but to accept the court ordered direction to live in the same house as her ex husband, albeit separated by a wall. The wall, constructed from roughly cemented together concrete pieces, created a permanent barrier separating Louisa and her sister from their father's new life. Areas of the wall even included an extended screen preventing the girls from peering into their father's much larger area of the home. Meanwhile, by this time their father had already remarried and moved his new wife.

[Helen's Friend]

In awful living conditions. And he would just give her food like she was a prisoner. It was awful, awful.

[Narrator]

While speaking with Tas, he shows me a series of photographs. One of these photos is of Helen and Louise's sister sitting on a single mattress laid on the floor with nothing else around them except for a small toy microphone and tape recorder.

[Tas]

So he wouldn't even provide him with a couch with furniture at all. Right. It was just a dirty old pillow there and that's it that they would have to make do. As you can see, there's no other furniture there. It's just. That's it. Kitchen table, just a plastic table there with a couple of chairs, fairly locked up. Confined areas, as you can see. Look at the bars on the window, the bars on the window as such, and they're still managing to smile.

[Narrator]

For over two years, Helen as a single mother, struggled to provide for her children in Libya. They lived in poverty and at times were allegedly subjected to the cruel treatment of her now ex husband. He now lived with his new family in luxury on the other side of the crudely erected wall, while the girls had limited contact with their father. Given Helen's dire financial situation she found herself in, it's understood they still relied in part on whatever meagre assistance he provided as part of the court order. No matter how hard she tried, as long as she remained in Libya, Helen was unable to be completely independent from her ex husband.

[Tas]

This is part of where all the damage happened to not only my mum but to the girls because I witnessed a lot of things that they shouldn't have. Those little girls, they were traumatized, they were bashed, my mum was bashed severely. They had to walk kilometers just to get some water in buckets. Little girls, you know, they couldn't speak to any boys. If they spoke to boys they got abashing so they were really, really mistreated there.

[Narrator]

Louisa's friends such as Indigo would also recall stories Louisa later shared about her experiences in Libya.

[Indigo]

She just talked about hearing being in the house and hearing her dad get home from work and eating dinner and stuff with his other family. And she used to sit with her mum and her sister in the other side and she'd hear him get home and be eating dinner with them and you know, doing that family thing while her and her mum and her sister resided in the other side. Like she, she didn't have a lot of respect for her dad at all when we spoke about at all through our friendship actually she didn't have a lot of respect for her dad but she loved her mum.

[Narrator]

Although limited in how much contact she had with family overseas, when Helen did speak with Tas back in Australia, she tried her best to shield him from the realities of what she and her daughters were facing on a day to day basis.

[Tas]

Look, my mother overall didn't tell me detailed stuff. No she didn't because she didn't want to hurt me, she didn't want to make me upset. And so this was one ongoing scenario with my mother that she was always hiding things from me because she knew that I had my own life and she didn't want to get me too involved. I found out all this stuff from others as such from my uncle Nico that went to Libya to try and help her from other family members. So there was a lot of shit that I never heard straight up from my mum.

[Narrator]

Meanwhile in Greece, Helen's family had continued to raise funds to help her and her daughters. Her brother Nico even flew to Libya to try and help my uncle Nico.

[Tas]

Who lives in Greece, in Crete. He went there in the hope to help her get the kids out. He ended up getting into a brawl, into a punch on with him as well. He stayed for a period of time there but he had to at some point leave and left the girls behind.

[Narrator]

Returning back to Greece, Nico contacted whoever he could to try and help his much loved sister and her daughters. This included sending a fax to associates of his with powerful connections. An excerpt of this fax letter sent by Nico described the Dire situation in Libya. It is read by Tass.

[Nico]

20 days have passed since I came back from Libya and Helen is still there. Helen is staying at his house, who has separated in the middle, as the court order commands. Every day he terrifies and blackmails her. For example, he throws on her a bucket full of cockroaches and the next day he threatens to kill her by grabbing her from the neck. In these cases, words can't describe the situation. Only if you live these incidences could you understand the drama she and the children are going through. As you can imagine, it's an awful situation. At least she has the children, but she's in a house with no refrigerator, no kitchen, no beds, and all because he has taken them all away.

[Tas]

I don't know what more I can.

[Nico]

Do, although I know it is very difficult in Libya because a woman is.

[Tas]

Like a worm with no human rights.

[Nico]

That's why we have to think of a legal or illegal way for them to leave the country. Please send me any suggestions or ideas you might have as soon as possible, because I'm afraid for her life.

[Narrator]

As months staying in Libya became years, Louisa's mother grew even more determined to get her children back to Australia. To make this happen, though, a plan was devised to secretly escape the country. This, however, depended completely on the assistance of paid heaviest.

[Tas]

I don't know exactly how the connection happened, but it was from ear to ear kind of thing. You know, my mum just out on the prowl, just quietly trying to find somebody to help her. I think it fell on her knee that on a person that knew of somebody that could possibly help but that they needed money, and surely enough, my mum had some money to make it happen. That's the other remarkable. The fact was that Louisa could speak Arabic, so she was a translator in many instances in the plot to help her put something together to escape out of the country. Now, going back to that story, in the period that she was there, she managed to come across some angels, which she even called angels. They were big tough guys, though they looked really mean, but they wanted to help her. And surely enough, these people over a period of, you know, a few years, managed to put something together to help her escape and get out of the country with the two girls. Meanwhile, you know, my mum had to spend her lifetime savings for that to happen. And when the time came for the Great Escape, it was full on. It was on.

[Narrator]

The escape was fraught with danger and obstacles as they faced constant risk of being apprehended by the Libyan authorities, endangering their lives and the lives of their rescuers.

[Tas]

I'm not sure if you've seen the movie Not Without My Daughter. It is very, very similar experience to that, right? If not worse. They had to leave in the late hours of the night, you know, when he was sleeping. The escape route involved, you know, five or six different cars in and out of six different cars and going past a few exits and it was, it was nerve wracking. I mean, because you're met with guards with guns and you know, these people don't hesitate to use them.

[Narrator]

Under the COVID of darkness, they fled Libya by car, relying on the protection of the so called angels to guide them to safety. The escape required Helen, 13 year old Louisa and her 9 year old sister to switch vehicles while navigating through heavily guarded checkpoints where armed officials scrutinised their movements. Their perilous journey took them through Libya, into Egypt and then on to Italy before finally reaching Greece where Helen was reunited with family and necessary arrangements were made to continue their journey to Australia and as far away from Libya as possible. After what was meant to be a two week holiday abroad, they were finally returning back to Australia three years later. As Helen boarded the plane from Greece to Australia, her thoughts likely revolved around the remarkable courage and unwavering determination that had brought her and her daughters this far. Watching Louisa and her sister peacefully asleep in their seats, she would have undoubtedly experienced a profound mixture of pride, relief and sadness. They had finally escaped the perils that had plagued their lives for the past few years and were now free from harm's reach. This flight must have symbolised their Newfoundland freedom, a testament to their resilience and the beginning of a brighter chapter in their lives. They were safe. But for how long? Still to come on Troubled Waters why.

[Indigo]

Are you happy, Louis?

[Tas]

Why would you? Today I found out the best news there.

[Helen's Friend]

She was a very good swimmer. Louisa was a very, very good swimmer.

[Tas]

She lost her life. I mean, in vain. To see all this unfold was just tragic. Was just tragic.

[Narrator]

Casefile presents Troubled Waters is written and produced by Julia Robson and Claire McGrath audio production by Mike Megus Audio editing by Anthony Telfer if you need any support regarding any of the topics raised in this podcast, please reach out to services such AS Lifeline on 131114 1, 800-Respect or the Men's Referral Service on 13007666 491. Listeners outside of Australia should refer to their local.

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