Malnourished and surrounded by excrement: a 9-year-old boy kidnapped by his father in Alsace is rescued
The judge decrees provisional prison for the man, who had locked his son inside a van for more than a year
ParisThe inhabitants of the French village of Hagenbach, with only 800 residents, cannot come to terms with it. In this Alsatian municipality, a father locked his son inside a van parked in front of the family home for almost a year and a half, forcing him to relieve himself in bags and bringing him food only twice a day. He did not go to school, had not showered, nor had he had contact with anyone during all this time. The French gendarmerie rescued him after a complaint last week from a neighbor who had heard a child's voice inside the vehicle. The officers found the boy, who is now nine years old, naked, in a fetal position, and malnourished. He was unable to walk.
The father – who has been provisionally imprisoned – locked him inside the van in November 2024, when the minor was seven years old and the family had just moved to live in the municipality. The minor has told investigators that his father's partner, who is not his mother, "did not want him in the apartment and wanted him to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital." According to his account, the father had locked him in the van to avoid admission. He only let him out when the family was on vacation. Then the boy could sleep at home, but he stayed there alone. The parent left him a mobile phone so he could warn him before the family returned.
Both the father, aged 43, and his partner, aged 37, have been arrested and social services have taken charge of the boy, who is hospitalized, and two other minors who lived with the couple. These are a 10-year-old girl who is the woman's daughter and another 12-year-old, the man's daughter and sister of the boy locked in the van.
Good grades and no psychiatric problems
The two girls were indeed enrolled in the municipality and stated that they had not alerted anyone because they thought their brother was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The reports from the last school where the minor was enrolled in the first year of primary school, in another Alsatian municipality, describe a boy who got very good grades and did not present the psychiatric problems described by the father's partner. Nor are there any medical reports that point in this direction.
The French press wonders how it is possible that a child could have disappeared and been locked in a van in front of his home without anyone having previously raised the alarm or reported his disappearance. The investigation has not yet provided answers to many questions about this case.
The judge decreed this Monday provisional detention for the father, whom he accuses of the crimes of illegal detention, kidnapping or arbitrary detention of minors under 15 years of age, and deprivation of care or food. The woman has been released, but is accused of failure to assist a minor under 15 years of age in danger and for not reporting mistreatment, deprivation, assault or sexual abuse.