A malnourished nine-year-old boy was rescued after being locked in his father’s van for 20 years in eastern France, a prosecutor said.
A neighbor alerted police to “baby noises” coming from a vehicle in the village of Hagenbach, near the borders of Switzerland and Germany.
After forcing the van open on Monday, officers found a child “lying in the fetal position, naked, covered with a blanket, on top of a pile of garbage and near a stool,” said the prosecutor, Nicholas Heitz.
He told that the child was malnourished and was no longer able to walk due to sitting for a long time.
His 43-year-old father told police he had kept the boy in a utility vehicle since November 2024 to protect him from his 37-year-old partner, who “wanted to put the child in psychiatric care,” the prosecutor said.
The couple lived in a block of flats with the boy’s siblings, his 12-year-old sister and 10-year-old half-sister.
According to Le Parisien newspaper, the boy told police that his father brought him food twice a day and left water bottles for him.
He has to urinate in plastic bottles and defecate in bin bags, he said, adding that the last time he took a bath was in late 2024.
According to the father, his companion did not know that the boy was in the van.
The man has been charged with “seizing and arbitrarily detaining a minor” as well as depriving her of proper food and medical care and has been remanded in custody.
His partner has been charged with “failing to render aid to a minor in danger” and “failing to condemn the abuse of a minor” and has been granted conditional bail.
All three children have been placed in temporary care pending a decision from a children’s court judge.
Neighbors told police that it seemed the boy had suddenly disappeared in late 2024, but learned from the couple that he had been put into care.
Some local residents said they sometimes heard noises from the van, but were told it was a cat.
A neighbor named Danielle described the situation as “really devastating”, Sky News reported.
She said: “We don’t understand it. It’s terrifying, there are no words.”
“I never noticed anything, never heard anything… It’s like we’re living in a movie or a dream, and we keep thinking, ‘Tomorrow I’ll wake up, and maybe it’s not real.’ We just can’t understand it.”
