The Vincenti sisters shed light on one of Australia's most notorious custody disputes.

It was a story that fascinated Australia.

In 2012, we watched wild scenes as four girls were dragged, screaming from their mother’s loving home on the Sunshine Coast in the middle of the night to be reunited with an Italian father who, we had been told by the girls and their mother, was dangerous and violent.

“He’s a very scary man. Anyone who’s been in an abusive relationship perhaps will understand the fear that a person has over you. If they’re violent and they hurt you and they’re abusive, you’re always scared they’re going to do it again, and that’s the power he’s had over the girls and me,” the girls’ mother Laura Garrett said at the time.

Twelve months earlier, Laura Garrett had fled with her daughters from Italy, with the apparent help of Australian Foreign Affairs officials. Laura and her four daughters had been living on the Sunshine Coast before the law caught up with them and returned the girls to their father.

Tonight on 60 Minutes, eldest daughters, Emily and Clare Vincenti (now aged 16 and 17) spoke to Tara Brown about their life in Italy and their ongoing relationship with their parents.

Read more: Italian father asks Australians to ‘calm down’.

Emily and Claire revealed that when their mother first took them from Italy, with the help of Australian Embassy staff in Rome, they didn’t realise they were on the run. “Well, I thought Dad was gonna come over to visit us and stay with us, so I wasn’t really concerned about that,” said Claire.

They soon found that they loved Australia. “Yeah, we learnt English pretty fast and yeah, we also made friends and in school, it was going pretty well, so yeah,” said Emily.

But just 12 months later, their mother dropped a bombshell: they had been taken from Italy without their father’s knowledge and the police were involved.  Claire says, “I just remember that one day, Mum was in the kitchen and then she had this stack of papers and you know, I asked her, ”What is going on?” and she said, “Your dad wants you to come back to Italy,” and that’s when it all started.”

At the time, Claire had told the media that she was fearful of her father. She said at the time, “the reason we don’t want to go back go with our dad back in Italy is because we’re scared of him.”

But tonight she told Tara Brown that was untrue: “Well, I mean, none of that has happened.”

She also admits that her reaction was somewhat over-the-top:

“The whole situation – that we were hiding and our story was on the newspapers and… I mean, mmm, if I think about it now, maybe I’ve said stuff that… I exaggerated a little bit, and that was just because I was liking my life in Australia and that was just because I didn’t want to leave,” Claire told interviewer Tara Brown.

Last time on 60 Minutes: Surprises from the Italian-Australian custody parents.

Returning to Italy was not easy for the siblings. Emily confesses, “Well, it was hard. But as time went on, things got easier.”

“We started again,” added Claire.

60 Minutes revealed that the girls also had to contend with a campaign apparently started by their mother’s friends, encouraging them to play up for their dad. Messages posted in a Facebook group encouraged them to put their dad’s phone in the dishwasher and destroy his laptop.

The girls say that they refused to read those messages. “Well, they were disgusting, I think,” said Claire. Emily agreed: “Yeah, I don’t think would’ve helped us if we did that, I think…It would’ve just made life harder for us.”

The girls told Brown they believed that both their parents had handled the situation badly and were putting their own needs ahead of their children’s.

“I think they were thinking more about themselves than us, you know, because we were put at the centre of this whole situation, and…I dunno, they were a little bit selfish, because you know, we went through all of this – I mean, they did as well, but it was most hard for us than them, ‘cause, you know, they’re the adults,” Claire said.

It’s clear that Emily and Claire and their younger sisters Christine and Lilly are now happily settled in Italy with their father. But like every child of divorce, they dream of an end to the war between their parents.

“I’m happy with my life,” said Claire. “You know, Australia’s very far away, but I would like to you know, do both, them both, go visit Mum and her family and stay a little bit here with Dad.”

Emily thinks that sounds pretty good, too: “You know, go for holidays over in Australia, or here in Italy – do half and half, not just with one.”

“Yeah, ‘cause we need both of them, obviously.”

 What to you think about the Vincenti drama? Were you glued to the story in 2012?