Local : Aissa Wayne Loses Custody of Girl

A Superior Court judge, calling Aissa Wayne “emotionally immature,” has decided that the daughter of the late actor John Wayne may no longer have custody of her 1-year-old daughter.

Wayne, 32, of Newport Beach had shared custody of her daughter Anastasia with the father, Thomas A. Gionis, a Pomona surgeon. Under Judge Ronald E. Owen’s ruling, Wayne will now take visitation of her daughter every other weekend beginning Feb. 10.

Owen said: “The Court finds it clear that the mother has no direction in her own life, so how can she direct the minor in the near future when the minor will need direction most? On the other hand, the father has direction and goals and has the ability to direct the minor in a useful and productive future.”

Citing testimony from the custody trial which began in November, the judge said Wayne appears to be a loving mother but “lacks familiarity with the child . . . the mother does not spend the time that she could spend with the minor but prefers to spend it elsewhere and leave the hour-to-hour business of caring for the minor to the housekeepers.”

The custody trial followed a bizarre and still unsolved attack last fall on Wayne and her friend, Newport Beach financier Roger Luby. The attackers broke into Luby’s home, attacked the pair and slashed Luby’s Achilles’ tendon.