According to the prosecution, the boy was detained in a delivery vehicle for more than a year. When he was found, he could not walk and was lying under a blanket next to feces.
Residents of a small town in Alsace have repeatedly reported suspicious noises coming from a parked van, but the owner claimed it was a cat. After a report of children’s voices, the police broke into the vehicle in the evening and found the nine-year-old son of the owner, who is suspected of having held him prisoner for more than a year, said prosecutor Nicolas Heitz in Mulhouse. The father (43) was arrested.
The boy was found naked and malnourished in a vehicle parked in the yard of a residential building in Hagenbach, near the border with Germany and Switzerland. He was lying in the fetal position under the blanket, next to the excrement, and because of his long stay in the van, he could not walk.
According to his own statements, the boy was imprisoned between September and December 2024, and he took a bath for the last time at the end of that year. He was taken to a hospital in Mulhouse. His father’s partner was also arrested. Two girls aged 10 and 12 lived in the apartment, and according to the prosecutor, the apartment was tidy.
The boy stated that he had a bad relationship with his father’s partner, who wanted him committed to a psychiatric institution, which is why his father locked him in a van to prevent that.
The father monitored the vehicle with a video camera and, according to the recordings, came twice a day to leave food and water. The boy had only a backpack with clothes, he urinated in plastic bottles and defecated in bags.
One girl in the household said the father used the van to go to work and the mother had heard noises before but was told it was a cat. The boy’s sister said she had not seen him since the start of the 2024 school year.
During interrogation, the father admitted that he imprisoned his son in November 2024, claiming that he wanted to protect him. He stated that during the summer of 2025, he occasionally allowed him to enter the apartment. His partner denied the allegations, claiming she believed the boy was institutionalized.
The family said they did not know the boy’s fate and believed he was in a clinic. The prosecutor’s office states that there is no medical evidence of mental problems of the child, who previously had excellent success at school.
An investigation was launched against the father and his partner. The boy is safe in the hospital, and investigators are investigating whether anyone else knew about the case and did not react.
(Vijesti.ba)
