NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

AKWASI DAMOAH ASUMADU, 

Appellant/Cross-Appellee, 

 v. 

HANNAH BOAHEMAA BAFFOE, 

Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

Nos. 18-16658, 18-16720

D.C. No. 

2:18-cv-01418-DLR

MEMORANDUM*

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Arizona

Douglas L. Rayes, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 7, 2019

Phoenix, Arizona

Before: IKUTA and FRIEDLAND, Circuit Judges, and BLOCK,** District Judge.

Petitioner Akwasi Asumadu and Respondent Hannah Baffoe file cross 

appeals in this case under the Hague Convention. The district court ordered that 

their son, K.A.A., be returned to Mr. Asumadu in Canada, while allowing their 

 

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

** The Honorable Frederic Block, United States District Judge for the

Eastern District of New York, sitting by designation.

FILED

MAR 20 2019

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
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daughter, A.K.A., to remain in the United States with Ms. Baffoe. Reviewing the 

district court’s factual findings for clear error, Murphy v. Sloan, 764 F.3d 1144, 

1151 n.5 (9th Cir. 2014), we affirm.

First, the district court did not clearly err in finding that the parties had no 

“shared, settled intent” for Canada to become A.K.A.’s habitual residence. Id. at

1150. The district court, crediting Ms. Baffoe’s testimony that her move to Canada 

with A.K.A. was intended as a trial period to determine whether Mr. Asumadu 

would continue to abuse her, found that “there was never a shared intent for 

A.K.A. to live anywhere other than with [Ms.] Baffoe.” No evidence in the 

record—such as the Canadian tax benefit the family received for A.K.A. or her 

attending school in Canada—shows that it was clear error for the district court to 

determine that there was no settled intent for A.K.A. to relocate to Canada 

permanently. Further, under the circumstances of this case and the district court’s 

findings, we need not reach the issue of whether Canada became A.K.A.’s habitual 

residence by acclimatization.

Second, the district court did not clearly err in finding that the parties did

have a “shared, settled intent” for Canada to become K.A.A.’s habitual residence. 

Murphy, 764 F.3d at 1150. We need not decide whether the district court erred in 

not excusing—due to Ghanaian cultural norms—Ms. Baffoe’s failure to use legal 

processes to ensure K.A.A.’s return to the United States, because it relied on other 
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evidence too in reaching its determination about the parties’ intent. It was not clear 

error, for instance, for the district court not to credit Ms. Baffoe’s contention that 

she did not bring K.A.A. back to the United States with her when she would visit 

him in Canada because Mr. Asumadu had withheld his passport from her. 

Therefore, we affirm the district court’s order that K.A.A. be returned to Canada.

Third, we need not decide whether or under what circumstances abuse of a 

spouse may create a grave risk of harm to the spouse’s child because A.K.A. will 

remain in the United States with Ms. Baffoe while K.A.A. returns to Canada with 

Mr. Asumadu. Ms. Baffoe has also indicated that she does not otherwise plan to 

return to Canada—given the parties will not be living together, there is no risk of 

spousal abuse or resulting harm to the children.

Lastly, the district court did not abuse its discretion by not implementing 

Article 18 of the Hague Convention to order A.K.A.’s return to Canada. Hague 

Convention on the Civil Aspects of International and Child Abduction, art. 18,

Nov. 1, 1980, 19 I.L.M. 1501 (1980). Such a decision is discretionary, and the 

record does not show that equitable considerations require such a return. See In re 

B. Del C.S.B., 559 F.3d 999, 1015 (9th Cir. 2009) (“We decline to remand the case 

to the District Court for a discretionary determination under Article 18 as to

whether Brianna should be returned to Mexico.”).

AFFIRMED.