"Trapped in His Father's Truck for 18 Months, He Couldn't Even Walk"... 9-Year-Old French Boy Found Naked

[The Financial News] In France, a 9-year-old boy who had been confined in his father's truck for 18 months was rescued after residents reported the case.
On the 13th, police in Hagenbach, in eastern France near the border with Switzerland and Germany, said they responded to a report from residents who heard a child’s voice coming from a vehicle. They found the boy in a dire condition, according to The Associated Press (AP).
When officers forcibly opened the truck, the boy was reportedly lying curled up naked on top of a pile of garbage, covered only with a single blanket. Excrement was scattered throughout the vehicle.
Because he had spent 18 months only sitting, his thigh muscles had atrophied and he was unable to walk on his own. Showing signs of severe malnutrition, he was immediately taken to a hospital.
The boy’s father, who has been indicted on charges including kidnapping, told authorities that he had "no choice but to make his son live in the truck since November 2024" to protect him from his live-in girlfriend, who he claimed was trying to have the boy committed to a psychiatric hospital when he was seven.
However, prosecutors found that before he went missing, the child had no history of mental illness and was doing well in school.
To cover up his crime, the father even went so far as to falsely inform the boy’s school that he had transferred to another school.
Even more distressing, investigators said the boy appeared to defend his father, telling them he had "great difficulty living with my father's girlfriend" and saying, "My father probably had no choice but to lock me up."
He also said he had not been able to take a shower even once during the 18 months he was confined.
Judicial authorities are investigating whether the father’s girlfriend and any other individuals knew about the confinement.
Meanwhile, the boy’s 12-year-old biological sister and his father’s girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter are currently under the care of social services.


moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter