A woman in Hyogo Prefecture who agreed Tuesday to return her 9-year-old daughter to her ex-husband in the United States under a plea agreement reached in a U.S. court, plans to drop her appeal against a ruling on the case by the Kobe Family Court.
The 43-year-old woman, whose name has not been disclosed, pleaded no contest in a Wisconsin court to a felony charge of concealing the daughter from her father, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan national and permanent resident of the United States, and agreed that the child must be returned to him within 30 days, her lawyer said.
The woman, from Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, had filed an appeal over a March ruling by the Itami branch of the Kobe Family Court, which gave her custody of her daughter but granted visitation rights to the father in the United States.
Her ex-husband has also appealed the court's ruling, and the Osaka High Court is examining the case.
The woman has until Wednesday — the day the high court is due to hand down its decision — to make a formal announcement, her lawyer said, noting there is little point continuing the domestic court battle as the girl will return to the U.S.
After the couple filed for divorce, the woman took her daughter to Japan just days before a U.S. court awarded the father custody of the girl in 2008. The woman was arrested in April when she traveled to Hawaii to renew her green card.