Wiping away tears, Hamilton man Wayne Pruden talks about how he went to pick up his 15-month old son yesterday and came home without him.

He should have had his 15-month-old son returned to him after a four-week holiday in Vietnam.

But Mr Pruden, 42, has no idea where his son is, though it is believed he is back in Hamilton.

The toddler left a month ago with his Vietnamese mother and was to have returned to New Zealand last week.

The boy’s passport has since been surrendered to Hamilton District Court in accordance with a Family Court ruling and Mr Pruden expected to see his son yesterday as part of a shared custody agreement.

But Mr Pruden — who hid his son in a Hamilton motel in a bid to prevent him from leaving New Zealand last month — waited in vain at the usual meeting place in the city and wonders whether his son is in New Zealand at all.