A mother suspected of having kept her son reclusive for 14 years was indicted on Monday by the Rennes prosecutor’s office. Placed under judicial supervision, she denies to BFMTV any abuse.
She denies abusing her son. A 48-year-old mother living in Rennes was indicted on Monday because she was suspected of having deprived her 14-year-old child “of care or food” by “compromising his health”, while she kept him reclusive. The boy has since been placed. Questioned by BFMTV, she denies this reason and claims to have always done “the best for [son] son”.
According to information from West France, the child weighed 25 kilos a year ago when he was taken care of by a hospital which immediately reported it to the authorities. The hospital staff then noted that the child had serious health deficiencies, language disorders and was afraid of others.
“He always had enough to eat”
“My son never went to sleep hungry one night. He always had enough to eat,” retorts his mother, who denies her son was undernourished when reported to the hospital.
“I’ve done the best for my son from the start. Both by opening him up to the world according to his age and also protecting him,” she explains again.
She also justifies the fact that he did not go to school by claiming that she taught him at home and that before they moved to Rennes from Paris before the Covid-19 pandemic, she allowed him to access to local cultural offerings: “my son was always in the library, in the museum, in the theatre, in toy libraries, in exhibitions. We were (…) very steeped in culture, knowledge”.
The mother faces at least seven years in prison
After the report of the hospital, the child was placed in emergency and the judge of the children was seized. His mother was indicted on Monday after being taken into police custody, on suspicion of charges of “evasion by a parent of his legal obligations compromising the health, safety, morals or education of his child” and “deprivation of care or food compromising the health of a 15-year-old minor by ascendant or person having authority”.
The penalties incurred are respectively 2 years’ imprisonment and a 30,000 euro fine as well as 7 years’ imprisonment and a 100,000 euro fine.
According to our information, the boy was born abroad in a country not specified at this stage and his birth would have been registered there at the French Embassy.