Overview
- Gendarmes in Hagenbach, alerted by a neighbor on Monday, opened a parked van and found a 9-year-old naked, severely malnourished, and unable to walk.
- Doctors in Mulhouse are treating the child for extreme malnutrition and trauma after months without hygiene or movement.
- The boy’s 43-year-old father admitted confining him since November 2024 to “protect” him, and he is now charged and held in pretrial detention.
- A 37-year-old partner faces charges for failing to report abuse and neglect, is under judicial controls with contact bans, and authorities took provisional custody of the family’s three minors.
- Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said there is no medical basis for claims of psychiatric problems, and investigators are scrutinizing how the child disappeared from school rolls without follow-up.