A 9-year-old French boy survives two years alone at home without hot water or electricity
A French mother was sentenced to prison after she abandoned her son, who lived by himself for two years until the authorities became aware of the situation.
It was 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic due to the coronavirus, when a French woman abandoned her nine-year-old little son at home. She made occasional visits to give him something to eat, but she neither slept nor shared any more time with him over the course of two years, leaving small boy to fend for himself. Now, four years after the beginning of the story, the Court of First Instance of Angomela (France) has sentenced her to 18 months in prison.
According to the local media Charente Libre, the young boy survived for two years in an apartment in the city of Nersac. His diet, in addition to the occasional days when his mother brought him something to eat, was based on canned food, vegetables or cakes that he helped himself to from neighbors. Meanwhile, during those years his mother lived in the town of Sireuil with her partner, three miles from her son.
At school the mother’s absence went unnoticed, because the young boy did not let onto the situation he faced at home. Every day, he came with a smile and was a good student. According to the aforementioned media outlet, the fact of living without electricity and without hot water was not a problem when it came to arriving “clean and happy” at class. Meanwhile, the neighbors of Sireuil where the mother lived with her partner never saw the little boy.
The mother denies the facts
During this time he was helped by his neighbors, who offered him something to eat. Finally one of them decided to notify the police, who were surprised when they realized that the young boy was living without the presence of his parents in “an apartment with very little investment.”
When they entered it, they only found the comforters with which he covered himself during the chilly winter nights to cope with the cold and an empty refrigerator. Alexandra (39 years old), the boy’s mother, has denied the facts laid out by authorities before the Court, but the neighbors have confirmed the results of the investigations. “The situation has a sad and terrifying side”, they say.
The mother claims that her son was going to Sireuil (where her partner lives) by bus and she followed him on her motorcycle, although the judges did not believe her. She has been convicted of “abandonment of a minor endangering his safety.” Now she faces 18 months in prison, six of them under surveillance with an electronic bracelet, in addition to undergoing treatment.
Now, the boy, “very mature and resilient” according to an educator. He had been transferred to a foster family after her custody was removed. His mother has only been to see him twice since he was transferred to the foster family, however, the child does not want to hear from his mother.