The girl’s mother, a Cape Verdean, is reportedly not the legal guardian of the eight-year-old. It is understood the woman had travelled to the United States at the end of June to collect the girl from her guardians for a holiday in Cape Verde, but never took her back. The child was intercepted at Lisbon airport with a cousin of her mother’s as they attempted to enter Portugal. The young girl’s legal guardians in the United States had already reported her abduction.