A 12-year-old Belgian girl whose father brought her to live here amid allegations by the child of being ill-treated by her mother and the mother’s partner should be sent back to Belgium under the care of authorities there, a High Court judge has ruled.
Mr Justice George Birmingham said there was a hint of “forum shopping” by the father after he told his daughter, by travelling to Ireland, the judges would decide she could stay with him.
The best forum for the issue of custody to be dealt with was the Belgian courts which had an involvement in the family’s affairs over the last four years, the judge said.
The girl’s parents separated in 2008 .
The girl later went to spend the summer with her father, now living in Portugal, but she did not return to Belgium and was enrolled in a local school.
The Portuguese courts later ordered her return to Belgium on the application of her mother and in July 2010 the Belgian courts gave the mother primary custody with secondary custody to the father.