The grandmother of Iruan Ergui Wu (吳憶樺) said yesterday she plans to file a custody suit in a Taiwan court to seek the return of the 5-year-old orphan she has raised as her own for nearly three years.
Rosa Ergui made the announcement after she failed to reach an agreement with Wu Huo-yen (
"He thinks the child is and will be happy in Taiwan, but I think the other way around. It makes no sense to continue the endless arguments," Ergui told the Taipei Times in an exclusive interview yesterday.
Ergui said she had come to Taiwan to take Iruan home. She had been raising her grandson for nearly three years since her daughter died in 1998.
Paulo A.P. Pinto, director of the Brazil Business Center, said that Ergui had come to Taiwan to "exercise her right to custody of Iruan."
Iruan, born to a Taiwanese father and a Brazilian mother, was brought to Taiwan by his father in mid-March. His father, a sea captain, died of unknown disease a week after they arrived.
Ergui said Iruan's father told her he wanted to take the child to visit his Taiwanese relatives for several weeks.
It wasn't until late March that she learned that the boy's father had passed away and that Iruan was staying with his uncle.
Ergui and Iruan's Brazilian uncle, Adir Ferreira, flew from Brazil to Taiwan on June 23. Though Ergui came with the intention of taking the child back with her to Brazil, Wu felt there would be room for negotiation if he could assure her that Iruan lives well in Taiwan.
To seek a resolution in Taiwan's court system, Ergui has hired Taiwanese lawyer Hsu Wen-pin (
Ergui and Ferreira are to leave for Brazil today, but she said she will "definitely" come to Taiwan again sometime in the near future to take Iruan home.
Meanwhile, Wu said yesterday he and Iruan's other Taiwanese relatives have tried their best to show Ergui that they see her as a member of their family and that they take good care of Iruan.
"If all these efforts mean nothing to her, I don't know what else I can do. At some point, I thought she was happy with the talks and there was a possibility of compromise.
"But in a matter of minutes, she changed her mind," Wu said. "I'm really confused and I don't think I can do anything if they decide to take the case to court. I'll just see what the court says."
Wu said Iruan is attending kindergarten and the boy's permanent residency in Taiwan is expected to be granted soon.
Sunday was the first time Ergui had seen her grandson in three months. But she said she felt Iruan is "completely different" from what he was in Brazil.
"He doesn't speak Portuguese anymore. And he didn't respond to me at all. I don't know why he changed so much in three months," she said.
RSS