France<\/a>, a prosecutor said.<\/p>\nA neighbour alerted police to \u201csounds of a child\u201d coming from a vehicle in the village of Hagenbach, near the borders of Switzerland and Germany.<\/p>\n
After forcing the van open on Monday, officers found a child \u201clying in a foetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement\u201d, the prosecutor, Nicolas Heitz, said.<\/p>\n
He added the child was malnourished and could no longer walk because he had been sitting down for so long.<\/p>\n
His 43-year-old father told police he had kept the boy in the utility vehicle since November 2024 to protect him from his 37-year-old partner who \u201cwanted to put the child in psychiatric care\u201d, the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n
The couple lived in a block of flats with the boy\u2019s siblings, his 12-year-old sister and 10-year-old half-sister.<\/p>\n
The boy told police his father brought him food twice a day and left him bottles of water, according to Le Parisien newspaper.<\/p>\n
He said he had to urinate in plastic bottles and defecate in bin bags, adding the last time he had a shower was at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n
According to the father, his partner did not know the boy was in the van.<\/p>\n
The man has been charged with the \u201csequestration and arbitrary detention of a minor\u201d, as well as depriving him of proper food and medical care, and has been remanded in custody.<\/p>\n
His partner has been charged with \u201cnon-assistance to a minor in danger\u201d and \u201cnon-denunciation of mistreatment of a minor\u201d and has been granted conditional bail.<\/p>\n
The three children have been placed in temporary care pending the decision of a children\u2019s court judge.<\/p>\nNeighbours told police that 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.<\/p>\n
Some local residents said they heard noises occasionally emanating from the van, but had been told it was a cat.<\/p>\n
One neighbour, named Danielle, described the situation as \u201ctruly devastating\u201d, Sky News reported.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe don\u2019t understand it. It\u2019s horrific, there are no words.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never once noticed anything, never heard anything \u2026 It feels like we\u2019re living in a movie or a dream, and we keep thinking, \u2018Tomorrow I\u2019ll wake up, and maybe it\u2019s not real.\u2019 We just can\u2019t comprehend it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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