Child in custody tug-of-war

Another South African mother and her child are involved in a legal tug-of-war. The five year-old boy must go back to the Netherlands, with or without his South African mother, until a Dutch court decides who gets custody. A Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa upheld an appeal by the Family Advocate against a judgement by the Pretoria High Court concerning the boy, who was taken from the Netherlands by his mother in September 2003. The father in the Netherlands used the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which is incorporated into South African law. The boy was born in the Netherlands. His mother, Bridget Houwert of Pretoria, met his father, Nicolas Houwert, the Netherlands while working as an au pair there. They were married in Pretoria in 2000 and returned to the Netherlands. The marriage was in trouble by 2003 and Bridget returned to Pretoria with the little boy. After telling the father in 2004 that she wanted a divorce and was not returning to the Netherlands, various court hearings followed.