Status: 11/05/2022 4:46 p.m
In Attendorn in Sauerland, an eight-year-old girl is said to have been locked up at home by her mother for many years. The public prosecutor’s office has started an investigation.
There are still many unanswered questions, but what is known so far about the case of an eight-year-old girl from the Sauerland region causes horror. The child from the city of Attendorn in the district of Olpe was probably not allowed to leave his own home for almost his entire life. The mother is said to have kept the child in the house for more than seven years. The chief public prosecutor in Siegen, Patrick Baron von Grotthuss, confirmed this WDR a corresponding report from the “Sauerlandkurier”.
No evidence of abuse
The youth welfare office and the police searched the house at the end of September and found the girl. But only now is the case public. The child is doing well “according to the circumstances,” said the chief public prosecutor WDR. There were no indications of abuse. The girl is being cared for by a foster family.
It is not yet clear why the mother apparently locked her child in. There are no statements from her yet. Investigators currently assume that the girl has not been allowed to leave the house since she was one and a half years old. “The child cannot have consciously noticed much of the outside world,” von Grotthuss told the “Sauerlandkurier”.
Eight-year-old was locked up in Attendorn for years
11/5/2022 4:30 p.m
According to the investigation, the case is currently as follows: the woman stated to the authorities and to the child’s father, who was already separated from the family at the time, that she was moving with her daughter to relatives in Italy. But instead she probably continued to live with her parents in the house in Attendorn. It is not known why she did this.
Search warrant after inquiries in Italy
Despite the Italy lie, the youth welfare office and the police eventually became active. Because there were anonymous tips. But attempts to enter the house were apparently unsuccessful. The mother’s parents, who live in the house, allegedly refused entry. The authorities then exchanged views with their Italian colleagues. And they confirmed that the wife and child have never lived in Italy. The police then got a search warrant and found the girl in the house in Attendorn.
The mother probably lived in Attendorn for years and kept the child at home
Image: WDR / Karsten Schöne
No forest, no car rides – only in the room
According to the public prosecutor, the child was examined after the liberation in the Siegen children’s clinic. The girl is said to have said that she had never seen a forest, been in a meadow or driven in a car. Instead, she is said to have mainly lived in a room with the door locked.
These circumstances have evidently left their mark. The girl should hardly be able to climb the stairs alone or overcome bumps in the ground. Articulating or running is possible, according to chief prosecutor von Grotthuss. Also, the child is not malnourished.
allegation of deprivation of liberty
The investigation into the case is still in its infancy. Initially, several expert opinions should be drawn up. The public prosecutor’s charge against the mother is mistreatment of wards and deprivation of liberty.
On Saturday, November 5th, 2022, the current hour on WDR television reported on this topic.
Source: wdr.de