By PAULA OLIVER
A decision by an American judge is likely to force a Christchurch family to stay in the United States until the middle of next year to fight a bitter international custody battle.
The case of New Zealand-born Robyn McLaughlin and her four children hit the headlines in August when
they were forced under the Hague Convention to leave Christchurch and live in Virginia.
The family had lived in Virginia during the 1990s, before husband and father Bruce McLaughlin was convicted in 1999 for sexually abusing the children.
A former high-flying lawyer, he was jailed for 13 years.
But in Virginia this week, a Circuit Court judge overturned his conviction.
McLaughlin has always claimed his innocence, and fought several unsuccessful appeals in Virginia courts before winning the latest case on the grounds that he had an unfair trial.
Questions were raised over the way the children were interviewed, and how the interviews were transcribed.
A report last year by the Virginia Department of Social Services, which investigated the interviews, said the claims were unfounded - reversing an earlier report.
McLaughlin claims the children were manipulated by their mother.
It is not yet known if McLaughlin will have another trial.
If one is sought by the Virginia Attorney-General's Office, the children will have to testify again.
Robyn McLaughlin had fled to New Zealand with the children, but after a Hague Tribunal hearing in August the children were told to return to their "habitual residence" for US courts to rule on a custody claim by their paternal grandmother.
Friends in Christchurch say the family is keen to return to New Zealand, where the children had settled into attending school.
But that prospect now looks unlikely.
A second trial would probably not go ahead until the middle of next year, and a custody hearing has been put off until after that.
The children are now attending schools in Virginia and have been meeting their paternal grandmother regularly at the order of the court.
The case has attracted media attention in the United States, where Bruce McLaughlin was a well-known lawyer.
His two-year battle for freedom could shortly be over.
His lawyers could now apply to have him released from jail on bond pending a second trial.
By PAULA OLIVER
A decision by an American judge is likely to force a Christchurch family to stay in the United States until the middle of next year to fight a bitter international custody battle.
The case of New Zealand-born Robyn McLaughlin and her four children hit the headlines in August when
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