A septuagenarian is suspected of having sequestered for several months in a small village in Haut-Rhin his 39-year-old son, recluse in an attic and deprived of food on the grounds that he had lost his job.
Placed in police custody and suspected of having kidnapped
his son
for at least “
four months
”, the man will be referred to the prosecution on Saturday, according to the gendarmerie.
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 around 500 souls, about thirty kilometers north-west of Mulhouse.
The thirty-something, who recognizes the facts, is then taken to the emergency room in Mulhouse to determine whether his state of health is compatible with police custody, according to the gendarmerie.
Along the way, however, he explains that he is not feeling very well, nor having had enough to eat 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 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.
Driven by hunger, he explained that 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 specified.
When questioned, neighbors said they were not aware of the son's return to the parental home.