LILONGWE, May 28: Multi-millionaire pop star Madonna won approval on Wednesday from a court in Malawi to permanently adopt a toddler from one of Africa’s poorest countries whom she first fell for at an AIDS orphanage.

The verdict, handed down by Judge Andrew Nyirenda after a closed-door hearing in the capital Lilongwe, means David Banda is now the permanent charge of the US singer after an initial 18-month temporary custody order.

It brings to an end a saga which she says was as painful as giving birth.

Neither Madonna nor her film-maker husband Guy Ritchie were in Malawi for the judgment, and it was left to their local lawyer to announce what he called “a beautiful and positive judgment” to reporters outside the high court.

“Finally the court has granted Madonna full adoption rights of the boy ...

It’s all over, thank God,” said Alan Chinula.

The judgment had been expected following a recommendation to the court by a social worker who had visited the family at their London home and found David had been provided with “love, safe home environment, care, protection, material as well as emotional support”.

The social worker, Simon Chisare, was present for Wednesday’s hearing, but refused to talk to reporters, saying Madonna’s lawyer was the right person to break the news.

David’s father, Yohane Banda, had given his backing to the adoption so that his son, who is aged around three, can escape a life of grinding poverty.

Madonna is the world’s highest paid female singer, and recently signed a 120-million-dollar deal with the concert promoter Live Nation to handle all her artistic output over the next 10 years.

Having given birth to a daughter, Lourdes, and a son, Rocco, Madonna was won over by tiny David on a visit to an AIDS orphanage in Oct 2006.

Critics have accused her of using her vast wealth to fast-track the adoption process, a charge she has denied.

Speaking last week at the Cannes film festival, Madonna said her efforts to adopt David and the media ridicule she faced had been as difficult as childbirth.

The 49-year-old, who was in Cannes with a documentary she produced and wrote about AIDS orphans in the southern African nation, said she had been bewildered by the criticism and suspicion she faced.

“It was painful and it was a big struggle and I didn’t understand it, but in the end, I rationalised that, when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount,” she told reporters.

“So I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains with dealing with the press on my front doorstep accusing me of kidnapping or whatever you want to call it. I had to go through some kind of process and in the end it made me stronger so I can’t complain.”

Asked for a reaction, her spokeswoman in London said: “No comment at the moment.”

Although Madonna herself has been widely praised for her charity work in Malawi, the adoption case triggered a storm of controversy in the southeast African nation.A coalition of 67 local rights groups challenged the interim custody order on the grounds that existing laws in Malawi do not allow for international adoptions.

Chinula said he hoped the “well-researched judgment” would help bring clarity in similar cases in the future.

“This judgment will have a lot of positive impact on future adoptions,” he said.—AFP