Haut-Rhin: Father accused of holding his son captive in a van jailed for one year

In the Alsatian village of Hagenbach, with its 800 inhabitants, the scene unfolded like a nightmare. A nine-year-old boy was found a week ago locked inside a van parked in a courtyard, just a few meters from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. A resident, alerted by "child's noises," notified the police. The rest, unfortunately, is anything but trivial.

On Friday, the Mulhouse prosecutor made the case public. On Monday, April 13, he announced that the 43-year-old father, charged with "aggravated kidnapping and deprivation of care," had been placed in pretrial detention for one year, in accordance with the prosecution's request. Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz specified that the detention location would not be disclosed.

A courtyard, a van, a child: the chilling discovery

What the soldiers found were words that are almost too graphic to write, so utterly unthinkable were they: a child, "pale and clearly malnourished," "lying naked in the fetal position," covered with a blanket, amidst garbage and near excrement. The boy was no longer able to walk, a consequence of prolonged sitting. He was taken to the hospital in Mulhouse where, according to the prosecutor's office, he remains hospitalized "safely."

In his initial statements, the child explained to investigators that his father's partner "no longer wanted him in the apartment" and wanted him committed to a psychiatric hospital. According to his account, his father locked him in the van "to avoid having him committed" in late 2024, when he was 7 years old. The father admitted to the charges of confinement and neglect. The partner, 37, was charged with failing to assist a minor under 15 in danger and failing to report abuse, and then placed under judicial supervision.

Now, the investigation continues under the secrecy of the judicial inquiry, with one question hanging over the entire case: who knew, who saw, who chose to remain silent? The prosecutor mentions the need to determine "each person's level of responsibility" and to establish whether others might have been aware of the situation without offering assistance. In this type of case, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but the village will never look at a simple van the same way again.