Courts to decide on Iruan

Rosa Ergui is likely to return home to Brazil without the five-year-old grandson she raised as her own son for almost three years.

Negotiations over who should take guardianship of orphan Iruan Ergui Wu (吳憶樺) failed to produce concrete results yesterday. Ergui is scheduled to return home tomorrow, and the case will likely be taken to court.

Ergui and Iruan's Brazilian uncle, Adir Ferreira, plan to leave Tainan for Taipei this morning and take a flight back to Brazil tomorrow.

There were unable to reach any consensus with Iruan's uncle from Taiwan, Wu Huo-yen (吳火眼).

Because of a lack of mutual trust, the two parties broke off negotiations last night. Unless either side makes a concession before the grandmother's departure, it's likely that Ergui will resort to the courts.

As the day began yesterday, there were signs the two sides had a better understanding of each other and would be able to reach a deal.

At roughly 11am, Ergui arrived at the Wu's home in Kaohsiung County, greeted with a crowd of people clapping, cheering and chanting "Welcome."

Several minutes passed before Ergui and other Brazilian guests could squeeze through the crowd lining the small lane, shake hands with them and finally reach Wu's home.

Up to five policemen were deployed to the home to keep the crowd in order.

Overwhelmed by the warm welcome, Ergui wore a smile, which was rarely seen on Sunday when she met the Wus for the first time.

Asking the media to leave, Iruan's Taiwanese and Brazilian relatives began talks on the boy's guardianship and disposal of the properties that had belonged to his father.

Wu and Ergui were allowed to talk alone via translators.

But despite the friendly start, it was still difficult for both sides to reach a consensus, and from time to time the negotiations were interrupted with emotional accusations resulting from miscommunication.

After visiting the Wu home, Ergui asked for some time alone with Iruan. Wu said he could understand Ergui's eagerness to have a private moment with her grandson.

But he said he was hesitant about the request after watching Ergui attempt to hurt herself at a Sunday night dinner. After Wu turned down Ergui's request to allow Iruan to stay with her overnight, she grabbed a table knife and attempted to slit her wrists.

While talks between family members have broken down, Hsu Wen-pin (許文彬), the lawyer for Iruan's Brazilian relatives, said negotiations between the two sides' lawyers would continue.

The Wu family said it was worried that things have somewhat gone awry despite efforts to negotiate with Iruan's grandmother.