Affidavit for a 17-year old to visit his 95 year old ailing grandfather which his mother, Lesia Neuage, refuses to grant permission for.

1. Leigh needs a written permission from both parents in order to visit his grandfather, great-grandmother, aunt and cousins in New York following the Under 19 National world championships in Edmonton Canada. This is because I agreed with Leigh's mother not to proceed with a sole-decision making application in court in March 1999. I had sole-decision making when Leigh visited the states in 1998 and so therefore there was no need for a court order but since his mother has said she opposes a 17-year old experienced world traveller from visiting his ailing 95 year old grandfather in upstate New York following his participation in the Under 19 World Series in Canada I have had to submit this for a judge's order to allow him to make this visit.

2. I also point out that we have a court agreement which says that Leigh could have gone to the states this year to play ball for the year if he signed - but we are holding back until he finishes high school at the end of this year. Obviously if Leigh had gone to the States to play for this year he would have visited his grandfather this year - so the mother's insisting this goes through the court process is just typical of her ongoing vindictiveness and a pattern of abuse she has used against the children and me for the past 15-years.

3. The reason for a written agreement is to free the Australian baseball association of responsibility following the finish of the world championships in August 2000 for Leigh as he will not return with the Australian national team following the championships but will fly direct to Albany New York where his relatives live.

4. Leigh will visit upstate New York for a seven-day period then return via Hawaii (where he will visit his uncle).

5. Leigh's school will be provided with the dates that Leigh will be out of school. Leigh and I had a conference with the assistant principal and teachers and councillors in March of this year during which time we discussed this trip and how to help Leigh finish twelfth grade and still travel.

6. Leigh asked his mother for her permission on Sunday April 2, 2000 for this but she said she would not allow him to take this additional trip. I will point out the following facts.

7. Leigh is an experienced traveller. Aside of more than a dozen trips he has taken within Australia during the past few years Leigh has flown numerous times overseas: The only difference is that Leigh will be 17 years old this time and he was 15 years old then and has been on one more international trip - the one to South Africa in 1999 - plus SIX trips within Australia since being in the States: January 1999 Alice Springs, May 1999 Perth, June - Perth, July 1999 Lisborn, Sydney - Oct 1999, Perth - January 2000 and he is going to Canberra in April. Plus many other trips before this listed period.

His overseas trips have been

• 1999 to South Africa with the U-17 National baseball team;
• 1998 to the States with the U-17 National baseball team (after this trip he flew on his own to Albany New York and visited his grandfather and relatives and flew back to Australia the same as he will this time - his mother knew and approved of this trip).
• 1992 USA and Europe as an extended holiday with his brother and father.

8. Leigh's grandfather is 95 years old at the end of April 2000. He is funding the extended trip, so of course Lesia does not need to pay any toward the extended trip. Leigh and I speak to him every Friday. He is very excited about Leigh's visit. His wife and other son, my brother, died several years ago. Leigh, Sacha (Leigh's brother) and I, are all that are left of his family. I can not afford to see him this year, so until I return to the States in two years this is the only contact my father will have with any of us. And at his age one does not know if he will still be alive by the time I return to the States in 2002 following my Ph.D studies at the University of South Australia. He recently had an operation for cancer of the bowels and is not in good health.

9. Leigh's great-grandmother (I was adopted in 1950 and made contact with my birth family only a decade ago) is also in her 90s and she has a heart condition which has placed her in poor health, has seen Sacha and me only once since I was placed in an orphanage in 1949. She saw Leigh in 1998 and is very excited about seeing him again. She is an avid baseball fan and like the rest of my family in the States, thinks it is wonderful that someone in her family may some day be a professional baseball player.

10. Leigh's aunt is a very stable person having raised two boys who are both in university and she has two daughters in high school. She has been married to the same person for the past 25-years. I have seen her once in my life since making contact in 1988. Leigh stayed with her family in 1998. The family is extremely excited about seeing Leigh. I am in weekly e-mail contact with my family.

11. Leigh's uncle lives in Hawaii. We missed visiting him in 1992 when we visited overseas, as he was overseas himself. Leigh's visit would be the only time he would have seen any of us.

12. The fact that I gave up my country, family and friends for the past 20 years so that Leigh and his brother Sacha could have the very limited contact that Lesia has chosen to make with them is incredible in itself. But Lesia has shown almost no interest in Leigh's pursuits, especially baseball. She did not go to one of his league games over the past two seasons - and he has had games on Saturdays, as well as Tuesday and Thursday nights - she did not attend any games the season before either.

13. Lesia not giving permission for Leigh to travel to visit his family is typical of her cruel intent toward the kids and me over the past 20 years. She has done everything from faking a brain tumor (in 1998 to try and prevent Leigh from travelling) to having her personal psychiatrist write a slanderous and false affidavit to the court (this person, Natalie Barrow, has never met me, made any contact with me or knows anything about me except from her patient - Lesia, yet she had no ethics about writing an affidavit full of lies to the court - this matter is currently being pursued as a contempt of court charge as well as a slander charge, and she has been reported and is being investigated by the South Australian Medical Board). Lesia has a long history of lying to the court, filing false affidavits and making up stories to prevent the children and me from being free to travel.

14. Every trip which Leigh has taken for his baseball career has had to have a court order for it because of the mother's trying to block him from playing. Currently, in spite of all which Lesia has done to prevent Leigh from playing baseball, he is regarded as one of the top under 19 baseball players in Australia.

15. I ask this court to give permission for Leigh to visit his family following the U-19 world series. The fact that Leigh will be 17 and will go to New York whether he gets permission or not is really incidental. It would be a lot easier if the court says he can go, as his mother won't give permission. Leigh is not a criminal, and any idea that his mother has told him that he would be arrested and forced to return if he tried to visit is ridiculous, this is another example of her 'emotional abuse' that she has used for so many years against Leigh. I also point out that Leigh will be travelling on his US passport (as he is a citizen of the United States of America). Leigh has worked very hard against extreme conditions to get to where he is and he hopes to be playing professional baseball in the States in a year anyway - but since he will be near his American family in August and with my father and grandmother's health the way it is now there is no reason for Leigh not to visit. I apologise to the court for the action of my ex-wife and all her behaviour over the years that has wasted the court time for these matters.