Emotional testimony kicks off Texas kidnapping trial

A Houston man whose ex-wife allegedly absconded to Brazil with the couple’s child broke down in tears on the witness stand on Tuesday in the federal kidnapping trial of the woman’s parents.

“Chris, they are going to run with the child,” the boy’s father, Christopher Brann, quoted his attorney as telling him in August, 2013,” choking back tears. “He’s not coming back.”

Brann – the first witness in an emotionally-charged federal kidnapping trial in Texas testified that he “begged via email and text messages” for his wife and her parents to bring his son back, to no avail.

Brann and Marcelle Guimaraes, a dual Brazilian-American citizen, were married in February 2008 in Texas. She gave birth to their son, Nicolas Brann, in September 2009. By 2012, she had filed for divorce.

In May 2013, the estranged couple agreed that she and Nicolas would travel to Brazil to attend her brother's wedding on July 6, according to a court documents. Guimaraes was to take Nicolas to Brazil on July 2 and return no later than July 20, 2013, according to a criminal complaint.

On July 27, 2013, Brann was informed that Marcelle Guimaraes was "too sick to travel and undergoing tests," according to court records.

Two days later Brann alleges he received an email from Carlos Guimaraes, stating that the boy would be returning to the US on Aug. 4, 2013.

But when that date arrived, Marcelle Guimaraes' lawyer alerted Brann's attorney "that Carlos Guimaraes had communicated to him that Marcelle and Nicolas would establish permanent residence in Brazil.

Guimaraes remains in Brazil with the child, but her parents, Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes, were apprehended by federal agents in February at Miami's airport after their flight landed from Brazil.

They were charged with conspiracy and international parental kidnapping and both have pleaded not guilty. Their daughter was also indicted on the same charges.