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Authorities in France rescued a 9-year-old boy after he spent a year and a half confined in his father’s cargo truck.
The Hagenbach prosecutor’s office in eastern France, near the Swiss and German borders, said in a statement on the 11th (local time) that police responded to a resident’s report of sounds coming from a vehicle and discovered the boy in deplorable condition, according to the AP.
When officers forced open the vehicle’s door, they found the boy naked and curled up on a pile of garbage with only a single blanket covering him. Human waste was scattered nearby.
Having sat in the truck for an extended period, he was unable to walk and showed severe signs of malnutrition. Authorities rushed him to the hospital.
Prosecutors say they have charged the boy’s father with kidnapping and related offenses. During questioning, the father said he had kept his son living in the truck since November 2024 to “protect” him from his girlfriend, who he alleged tried to send the then-7-year-old to a psychiatric hospital. Prosecutors said the child had no prior history of mental illness and had been a good student before he disappeared.
Investigators say the boy told them he had “great difficulty” living with his father’s girlfriend and believed his father felt he had no choice but to lock him up. The boy also said he never once showered during his confinement.
Judicial authorities are investigating whether others, including the father’s girlfriend, were aware of the confinement. School officials had been notified that he had transferred to another school.
The boy’s 12-year-old sister and the father’s girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter are now in the care of child welfare services.
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