A 3-year-old German girl who came to Las Vegas last year only to experience repeated and near-fatal abuse returned to her homeland Sunday.
She was accompanied by German social workers and her father, Murat Celebi, who is trying to gain primary custody.
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The child has been in foster care since she underwent emergency surgery for severe head trauma in August. Police found that the girl had been repeatedly battered. At the time of her head injury, she was the subject of two open Child Protective Services investigations.
The head injury occurred while the girl was in the care of her mother, German national Semaneh Rezaei, and the mother's boyfriend, Arash Hashemi of Las Vegas. Rezaei was deported before facing criminal charges. She pleaded no contest in absentia in Family Court to counts of improper supervision and failure to protect her daughter from harm.
Hashemi did face charges of felony child abuse, which were dismissed in Clark County District Court. The Clark County district attorney's office planned to seek a grand jury indictment against Hashemi. Christopher Lalli, who heads the criminal division of the district attorney's office, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
"I think the system worked well," said Frank Sullivan, the Family Court hearing master who closed the case Thursday. "I commend the Department of Family Services and the representatives in this case. I think everyone pulled together for this child."
Sullivan issued an order for the girl's return on Feb. 27 after considering arguments made by parties that included legal representatives for the girl, the girl's parents, and the German government, which now has legal custody of the child. The German courts have taken custody away from Rezaei for the period of a year. Rezaei also is facing German prosecution related to the abuse inflicted on her child.
Celebi, who did not give permission for his daughter to travel to the United States, came to Las Vegas at the end of February to lobby for the child's return. Since he was never married to Rezaei, he does not have parental rights under German law.
