Court halts boy’s return

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court delayed the return of a 9-year-old boy to his U.S. father only hours after the man arrived from New Jersey on Thursday in hopes of taking the boy home for Christmas.

The court suspended the previous day’s appellate court decision ordering the child handed over to David Goldman, and held that the boy must stay in Brazil while it considers whether to hear his testimony in a case that has dragged on for five years.

The ruling means the boy will be in Brazil at least until Feb. 1, after the judges return from a recess, according to a court spokesman who commented on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the case.

“The court of appeals, the three judges, recognized the urgency of my son to come home. This stay is ridiculous,” Goldman said.

Goldman’s lawyer, Ricardo Zamariola, confirmed the ruling means he will be unable to pick up his son, Sean, at the American Consulate in Rio today, as a federal appeals court had ruled Wednesday.

“We’re studying the decision, and we’ll decide what to do soon,” Zamariola said.

Thursday’s ruling, written by Justice Marco Aurelio Mello, found that “at stake is a fully formed life. At stake is the right to come and go, the right of opinion, expression and human dignity.”

Mello told reporters afterward that the Supreme Court will “question the necessity of Sean, the boy, who is almost 10 years old, to be heard directly by a judge.”

Silvana Bianchi, Sean’s maternal grandmother, told the privately run Agencia Estado news service she was elated with the decision. According to her, Sean, who has dual citizenship, has said he wants to remain in Brazil.

“His testimony has never been heard,” she said. “As a Brazilian citizen, he deserves it. He is a child of nearly 10 and he knows quite well what he wants.”

To underscore that point, the lawyer for the Brazilian family showed reporters a card he said Sean drew. “I want to stay in Brazil forever,” it read in large, green lettering.