KEY POINTS:
The Family Court will now decide the future of a seven-year-old girl at the centre of a trans-Tasman custody row.
Caitlin Thorne is still in New Zealand after her father Terry Thorne won a court order and travelled from Australia on Wednesday to collect her. However, when he arrived at the west Auckland home of her maternal grandparents where Caitlin had been staying, her mother Nicola Richards hid with her in a barn and refused to hand her over.
After a tense stand off she was eventually persuaded by police to leave the barn and left the house with Caitlin in a police car.
Police said Caitlin was now with one of her parents and the custody dispute would be decided in the Family Court.
A spokesman said police no longer had an involvement in the matter.
Mr Thorne won sole custody of Caitlin after accusing Nicola Richards of snatching Caitlin while she was staying with her grandparents during the school holidays on October 7.
She had been due back in Sydney, where she lived with her father, for school on Monday but failed to arrive.
Mr Thorne said he feared for her safety because of her mother's alleged association with criminals and drugs.
Richards was bailed after appearing in court this week on drugs charges.
- NZPA
