The mother claims the minor, who reportedly has Portuguese nationality, is at risk of becoming a victim of domestic abuse if she is sent back to the UK.
However, the Portuguese court ruled the child be handed over to British authorities despite a statement from the child’s grandmother and a report by Portuguese social security on the mother’s behalf and at her lawyer’s request.
The move comes after the woman, who had moved to the UK, returned to Portugal with her daughter after, as northern newspaper Jornal de Notícias reported earlier this year, “she feared for both their lives.”
She brought her young daughter with her, away from her ex-partner, who is understood to have made an official complaint to British authorities for kidnapping.
Back in Portugal since November last year, the woman was notified in February by the GNR that she had been summoned by Santo Tirso court and was expected to take the young girl.
It was suspected at the time that the court could ask for the child to be immediately handed over, but proceedings took over half-a-year to reach this week’s conclusion.