RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Brazil's top judge ordered Tuesday that a 9-old-old boy at the center of a long custody dispute must be returned to his father in the United States.
The father, David Goldman, has fought five years to bring his son, Sean, home to Tinton Falls, N.J.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes lifted a stay of an appeals court decision imposed last week by another justice, who had ordered Sean stay with his Brazilian relatives until the high court heard the case, CNN reported.
The boy's father had arrived in Rio de Janeiro last week to get his son before the justice issued the stay.
In 2004, Goldman's then-wife, Bruna Bianchi, took Sean from New Jersey to Rio de Janeiro for what she said would be a two-week vacation with her son. Bianchi remarried in Brazil and got custody of Sean.
She died while giving birth last year.
The Federal Regional Tribunal in Rio de Janeiro ruled 3-0 last week that Sean was to be returned to live with his father. The appeals court said the child must be returned to his father under a provision of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abductions.
Goldman argues he's now the only surviving parent and thus should get custody. But Sean's Brazilian relatives have continually filed appeals. His stepfather and other relatives in Brazil say leaving the country would seriously disrupt his life.
