A nine-year-old boy has been rescued after being locked in his father's van since November 2024 in eastern France, prosecutors have said. The child was found malnourished and unable to walk after neighbours alerted police to sounds coming from the vehicle in Hagenbach, near the Swiss and German borders.
Police forced open the van on Monday and discovered the boy lying naked in a foetal position on a mound of trash, covered by a blanket and near excrement, according to prosecutor Nicolas Heitz. The child told officers his father brought him food twice a day and left bottles of water, but he had not showered since the end of 2024 and was forced to urinate in plastic bottles and defecate in bin bags.
The 43-year-old father told police he had kept the boy in the utility vehicle to protect him from his 37-year-old partner, who he claimed 'wanted to put the child in psychiatric care.' The couple lived in a nearby flat with the boy's 12-year-old sister and 10-year-old half-sister. The father said his partner did not know the boy was in the van.
The man has been charged with 'sequestration and arbitrary detention of a minor' as well as depriving him of proper food and medical care, and has been remanded in custody. His partner has been charged with 'non-assistance to a minor in danger' and 'non-denunciation of mistreatment of a minor' and has been granted conditional bail. The three children have been placed in temporary care.
Neighbours said the boy seemed to have disappeared suddenly at the end of 2024, but they understood from the couple that he had been placed in care. Some residents reported hearing noises from the van but were told it was a cat. One neighbour, Danielle, described the situation as 'truly devastating,' adding: 'It's horrific, there are no words.'
