"My daughter and grandchild are alone in a troubled and dangerous country. Please help."

It’s the case that is dividing debate on Australian citizenship. One Australian grandmother has written of her desperation at knowing her daughter and grandchild are stranded alone in a dangerous land.

Here is Karen Nettleton’s statement, in full:

“A few days ago a man knocked on my door. I was scared. I felt as though I was opening the door to the ominous messenger who delivered telegrams to mothers and wives during wartime.

“The messenger told me that the man my 13-year-old granddaughter was forced to marry, Mohamed Elomar, was dead.

“I was also told that Khaled Sharrouf, my daughter’s husband, was missing and presumed dead.

“My heart broke for my daughter Tara and my granddaughter Zaynab, alone in a troubled and dangerous country, but I was so relieved by the news that they were alive and unharmed.

“Some months back Khaled Sharrouf’s car was blown up, resulting in the death of the family inside, including a mother and children.

“They were friends of Tara. It seemed to me that the target was Khaled Sharrouf. As happens in the fog of war, civilians become victims, or as is so coldly stated, collateral damage.

“I don’t want my daughter and grandchildren to be collateral damage in this shameful and tragic war. There are so many innocent victims dead, wounded or displaced.

“Since my daughter has been in Syria, I fear watching the news. I am sure I am not alone.

“There are other parents in my situation in Australia and overseas. My heart goes out to them. Their lives and ours will never be the same.

“Recently I made a public plea to the Australian Government to assist in bringing home my daughter and grandchildren. I believe the Australian Government has the resources and expertise to save its own citizens.

“With the deaths of Mohamed Elomar and likely Khaled Sharrouf, my daughter and grandchildren more than ever need the love and care of their family to help them recover from the trauma, abuse and terrors of war they have experienced.

“Unlike millions of displaced people in Iraq and Syria, they have a place to come home to.

“My silence and reluctance to speak publicly has been because of an unbearable fear that if I speak out, I may further endanger my family.

“This fear is tempered by a deeper fear that if I do not speak out, and some other tragedy befalls them, I will not be able to live with myself.

“They want to come home. Our country is a country of many faiths and backgrounds. It is my belief that Australia is an open-hearted country. The time is ripe for compassion and empathy.

“My daughter made the mistake of a lifetime. Today she is a parent alone in a foreign and vicious land looking after a widowed 14-year-old and four other young children.

“I accept that some will be critical of my daughter, who followed her heart and has paid an enormous price.

“I implore those people, including our Prime Minister Mr Abbott, who is a man of faith, to remember John 8:7 — ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her’.

“Mr Abbott, I beg you, please help bring my child and grandchildren home.”

Do you think the government should bring home Karen Nettleton’s daughter and grandchildren?