French woman facing child abduction charges in Canada to enter guilty plea

A French woman detained by Canadian authorities for allegedly kidnapping her two children after a protracted custody battle will enter a guilty plea, prosecutors said Thursday.

Geoff Gaul, a spokesman for government prosecutors, said attorneys for Nathalie Gettliffe told the British Columbia Supreme Court that their client would plead guilty on Friday.

Gettliffe has been detained since April. She faces up to 10 years in prison is she is convicted of two counts of child abduction in contravention of a custody order.

Gettliffe recently gave birth to a baby boy named Martin while in custody at the Alouette Correctional Center for Women in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver.

Gettliffe has said previously that she took her children to France in 2001 to remove them from the influence of their Canadian father, Scott Grant, because he was increasingly active in the International Church of Christ.

While Canadian authorities recognize the church, French authorities consider it a cult.

French authorities returned the 11-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl to Vancouver in July, reuniting them with their father, who had been granted full custody by a Canadian court.

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