A septuagenarian is suspected of having sequestered for several months in a small village in Haut-Rhin his 39-year-old son, reclusive in an attic and deprived of food on the grounds that he had lost his job, we learned on Friday with the gendarmerie.
Placed in police custody and suspected of having kidnapped his son for at least “four months”, the man, aged about 70, will be brought to the prosecution on Saturday, according to the same source.
The case erupted Wednesday evening, when the gendarmes are called for a history of violence: a mother explains that her husband was hit by their son in Malmerspach, a town of about 500 souls, about thirty kilometers to the north-west of Mulhouse.
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In a state of extreme thinness
The thirty-something, who recognizes the facts, is then taken to the emergency room in Mulhouse to determine if his state of health is compatible with police custody, according to the gendarmerie.
Along the way, the thirty-something explains however not feeling very well, nor having eaten enough lately.
In the hospital, his state of extreme thinness, evoking the “images of prisoners in the camps”, shocks the caregivers, according to the same source.
When questioned, the young man then explains that he returned to the parental home about a year ago after losing his job.
His father, judging that his son was doing nothing to get by, then decided to house him in the attic, forbidding him to go down and eat, according to this source.
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Forced to eat the leftovers
Driven by hunger, the 30-something said he tried to slip out of the attic at night to eat the leftovers. But his father, who had realized it, had blocked the access.
Obviously exhausted, the thirty-something ended up hitting his father on Wednesday evening, who was then alcoholic.
However, this violence will not be held against him, it was said.
When questioned, neighbors said they were not aware of the son’s return to the parental home.
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