Court Will Examine Madonna's Adoption of 'Mercy James'

Court Will Examine Madonna's Adoption of 'Mercy James'
By Michael Y. Park and Raphael Kinn L. Tenthani


Details are emerging about David Banda's prospective sister once a Malawian court investigates Madonna's application to adopt an orphaned baby girl named Mercy James – who, despite some reports, is not from the same orphanage where the pop star met David.

Mercy James is from the Kondanani Children's Village in the town of Bvumbwe, in the southern tea-grown district of Thyolo, a source at the High Court tells PEOPLE. Bvumbwe is 20 kilometers south of Blantyre.

Madonna met Mercy James, now 3½ years old, at the Kondanani Children's Village, when she visited Malawi for the first time in October 2006. She expressed interest to adopt Mercy then but instead adopted David Banda, now 3, from Home of Hope orphanage in central district of Mchinji on the border with Zambia.

Currently, Mercy's surviving relations – grandmother Lucy Cekechiwa and uncle John Ngalande, who initially resisted the adoption – are at Kumbali Lodge with Mercy. A nurse and a nanny are also waiting to appear in court on Monday.

According to a court notice circulated to judges and court clerks by the Registrar of the court, Madonna, 50, will appear before a High Court judge "at 9 o'clock in the fore-noon [morning] on Monday March the 30th for hearing of an adoption case. Madonna will appear without a partner or spouse."