PARIS, April 11 (Bernama-dpa) -- French police have arrested a 43-year-old man accused of confining his nine-year-old son inside a delivery van for more than a year, prosecutors said on Friday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
The case came to light after neighbours reported suspicious noises, prompting officers to investigate.
The child was later found naked and malnourished inside the parked vehicle in the courtyard of an apartment block in Hagenbach, a village in the Alsace region near the German and Swiss border.
The father lived in one of the apartments in the building.
The boy said he had been locked in the van at some point between September and December 2024 and had last showered at the end of that year.
He was found lying in a foetal position under a blanket, beside excrement inside the van.
After the prolonged confinement, he was no longer able to walk when discovered, prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said.
The boy was taken to a clinic in the eastern city of Mulhouse. The man’s girlfriend was also taken into custody.
While the child was living in the vehicle, the father, his girlfriend, and two girls aged 10 and 12 lived in the apartment as a household.
During questioning, the boy said he had serious difficulties with his father’s partner, who did not want him in the apartment and had pushed for him to be placed in psychiatric care.
Prosecutors said the father admitted to locking his son in the van from November 2024 to prevent such a placement, adding that the boy was briefly allowed back into the apartment during a family holiday in summer 2025.
The partner denied any knowledge of the confinement, saying she believed the boy had been placed in a psychiatric facility. Relatives also said they were unaware of the situation.
The boy’s 12-year-old sister told police she had been living with her father for four or five years because their mother suffered from mental health problems.
Meanwhile, the man’s other daughter, who also lived in the apartment with him and his partner, told investigators that he used the van for his daily commute.
The family had moved to Hagenbach, a village of about 800 residents, in early 2024.
The boy’s biological sister said she had not seen him since shortly after the start of the 2024 school year and had observed her father regularly leaving the apartment to go to the van.
Investigators said the father monitored the van with a video camera and visited it twice a day to leave supplies.
The boy told authorities he was given food and water but had only a backpack of clothes, and was forced to urinate in plastic bottles and use garbage bags.
Prosecutor Heitz stressed that there is no medical evidence supporting claims that the boy suffered from psychiatric issues. Records show he had been a high-achieving student in Mulhouse through the 2023–24 school year.
Authorities are also examining whether others may have been aware of the child’s situation but failed to intervene.
-- BERNAMA-dpa
