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"Deplorable hygiene", "educational deficiencies": a couple from Pas-de-Calais tried for years of abuse on eight children

2023-01-24T06:56:19.334Z


The case sparked outrage at the time, with some referring to a "house of horror". The passivity of child protection services continues to be debated.


It is a red brick house typical of the mining basin in northern France.

Once the door closed, the neighbors never suspected the reality of everyday life behind its walls.

Children tied to chairs, deprived of care, abused, insulted... After years of abuse, a couple from Noyelles-sous-Lens (Pas-de-Calais) appeared this Tuesday before the Béthune criminal court.

They are tried for facts concerning eight of their ten children, the facts alleged by the two eldest being prescribed.

Motor skills, speech problem

Following yet another fight during which he must protect his little brother, Bryan, 21, breaks his silence at the end of the summer of 2022 and alerts the authorities.

I decided it was over.

I could no longer see, experience scenes as I saw (sic), so I called on the social

workers, ”he reports in front of the BFMTV cameras.

This report triggers a police investigation and a surprise visit to the family home.

The police can only confirm the ordeal experienced by the siblings: two children aged 2 and 5 are tied to high chairs "

in a deplorable state of hygiene

“, according to the prosecution.

Another has motor problems and only walks on tiptoe.

Two have a significant delay in speech and only express themselves with sounds.

Most smiles are eaten away by cavities.

Read alsoÉdouard Durand: “Violence at home is still the subject of massive denial”

When heard, the siblings confirm the abuse suffered for years, described by the Béthune prosecutor as serious "

negligence in hygiene, care

" and "

educational deficiencies

".

If no trace of blows is then observed, Bryan depicts a family universe permeated by violence, with "

kicking, punching, beating with sticks, whipping, squeegee blows, beatings with a broom, kicks with a safety shoe

,” he confides through a painful enumeration.

And to add: “

my father threw a helmet in the belly of my little brother.

He was breathless, he was on the ground but my father had no regrets, no remorse, never an excuse after their act, my father like my mother.

»

“Baby allowances”?

The father, 44, moonlights in car repairs and the mother, 40, is unemployed.

To meet the needs of the family, the couple receives 2700 euros in social benefits.

But the money is not spent on the education of siblings, according to Bryan's charges: “

When a child leaves the house, they make another child just so as not to lose any amount of money.

We are their salary.

“Questioned then by

Liberation

, Me Bertrand Henne, representing the father of the family, had refuted the theory of the son: “

If it was babies-benefits, the children would all be in boarding school, like that, they would be quiet.

These are children who lived at home and whose cost they bear

“, he certified.

The criminal lawyer did not respond to requests from

Le Figaro

.

A placement order is immediately issued for each of the minors.

They had to

"be washed before being placed",

specifies

La Voix du Nord

.

During their interrogations, the parents justified themselves by explaining that they had tied them up to "

prevent them from committing nonsense

".

They are forbidden to come into contact with their children.

At the end of a short investigation - no judicial information was opened, limiting in fact, the acts of investigation -, the couple was sent back to the criminal court for "

violence by ascending

" on minors under 15 years old, without ITT (total incapacity for work), and “

subtraction by a parent from his legal obligations

".

Facts punishable by five years' imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.

The violence denounced by the two elders, as well as the accusations of insults and homophobic insults were not accepted, the limitation period having expired.

Contacted by

Le Figaro

, Me Rodolphe Costantino, lawyer for the Enfance et Partage association, a civil party, is surprised at the absence of ITT's day in the procedure.

"

The doctors checked the presence or absence of hematoma or esquare, without fully assessing the consequences of the abuse

," he laments.

Bryan also said he was "

shocked at the penalty

".

Justice is once again not responding.

»

The inertia of state services

In the background, the action of State services continues to raise questions.

And that also explains the media frenzy that the case has generated.

Because the R. family has not gone under the radar.

As early as 2013, the couple was the subject of a first report.

But he refuses the help of social services and the procedure is interrupted.

In 2016, a second report from the National Education Department was sent to the public prosecutor following insults and violence reported by one of the sons.

But the file is again closed without follow-up.

It is not until 2022, almost ten years after the first alert, that the children are not taken away from their parents.

Read alsoPas-de-Calais: siblings found tied up and in a terrible state of hygiene, parents arrested

In September, the Secretary of State for Children Charlotte Caubel was forced to recognize "

failures

" in the "

coordination

" of child protection services.

The social services had also been blocked by the fact that, during the visits of their agents, the parents "

previously informed

", set up "

a facade of normality

", according to the association l'Enfant Bleu, brought as a civil party.

Charlotte Caubel had announced the launch of an administrative investigation to shed light on the follow-up of the family.

Contacted by us, the entourage of the Secretary of State informs us that the conclusions of the latter are not yet known.

"

The inspection entrusted by the Government to the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ), the Inspectorate of Education, Sport, and Research (IGESR) and the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) on the The Noyelles-sous-Lens mistreatment case is still ongoing

,” it says.

At the time, the expression "

house of horror

" had been widely taken up in the media, while Thierry Dran, public prosecutor of Béthune, described this term

as "exaggerated

".

The prosecutor has never experienced a quarter of what me and my brothers have experienced

,” reacted Bryan.

SEE ALSO

- Six adults tried at the Assizes of Douai for acts of barbarism on a child

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-01-24

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