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A court in the Czech Republic has been handed a suspended prison sentence to a New Zealander who two years ago took his six-year-old daughter out of that country to Australia without his former wife's consent.

The Prague Daily Monitor website, quoting local newspapers, reported that Plzen district court in West Bohemia this week sentenced Rodney Cowie to three months' jail, suspended for 12 months.

Cowie, 40, took daughter Tereza from his former wife Nicol Vichnarova in West Bohemia in March 2008. Dozens of police were involved in the subsequent search.

"He could have been sentenced up to two years in prison for infringement upon other people's rights. The delivered sentence is at the lower limit of the punishment," Judge Alena Rundova said, adding that Cowie had not kidnapped his daughter.

Cowie said at the beginning of the trial that he had the right to be with the daughter for eight hours a week. But his former wife did not make it possible for him to spend the whole weekend with the child.

"I was told by my former wife to go to a zoo and for skating with the daughter. I asked my daughter whether she wants to leave along with me for Australia. She happily agreed," Cowie said.

Instead of going to the zoo, they left for the airport in Frankfurt.

Ms Vichnarova found out after a few days that her daughter was in Australia. After Ms Vichnarova took court action there she and Tereza returned to the Czech Republic in mid-2008.