A New Jersey court has granted bomb suspect Ahmad Rahami's ex-girlfriend full custody of their child and has prohibited him from contacting the child, saying there was a potential for "irreparable harm" to the child.
However, the court denied Maria Mena's request to change the minor child's name.
In a filing Tuesday, Mena cited Rahami's arrest and "possible terrorist activities" as the basis for her petition.
"Defendant has been charged with police attempted murder and is currently under protective services after possible terrorist related activities in NYC," Mena wrote in the petition filed in superior court.
The court agreed and granted Mena temporary sole legal and physical custody of the child, whose name was redacted in the order. "The Plaintiff's testimony has convinced the Court that the purported harm to the minor child under the instant circumstances is both emergent and irreparable and has therefore satisfied the standard."
The court immediately suspended Rahami's visiting time with the child, and prohibited any contact, pending a hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in family court in New Brunswick, N.J.
She said she had not spoken to Rahami since January.
Court records show that as of last year, Rahami owed Mena more than $3,000 in child support.
The two reportedly met while they were both students at Edison High School in the mid-2000s. Rahami is now married to a woman who was not in the country when he allegedly planted bombs in New York and New Jersey.
Rahami's current wife, Asia Bibi Rahami, was interviewed by the FBI in the United Arab Emirates Tuesday and said she had no knowledge of her husband's alleged plot, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News.
She spent the summer in Pakistan and was planning on returning to the U.S. this week, but the FBI had her stopped in the UAE in order to question her more quickly, the official said, and she will resume her travel home.
