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The fate of a nine-year-old boy who survived two harsh winters alone without electricity or heating, who committed a robbery to avoid starvation and who always went to school – this boy touches the hearts of France.
The boy had to steal tomatoes to survive, French media reported. But he still went to school every day – and showed no sign of it, never complained about his fate.
The case only became public because his mother was on trial for neglect and had to reveal dark details about how she abandoned her child.
“The mother said we should mind our own business.”
Between 2020 and 2022 – at the height of the Covid pandemic – the boy was left to fend for himself in the southwestern village of Nersac. The 39-year-old mother moved in with her boyfriend just about three miles away.
The boy, left to fend for himself for two years, became a fighter for survival. Occasionally his mother would bring him cookies, cakes and cans of food. They weren’t enough. The boy stole tomatoes from a neighbor’s garden, it turned out in court in Angoulême.
“I created a small garden and the little one secretly came to pick up tomatoes to eat,” the neighbor told French TV channel TF1. “We told the mother not to leave her child alone. She told us to mind our own business and she was there.”
Failure of the authorities?
The boy lived in the abandoned part of a social housing block. There was no heating, electricity or hot water there. During the winter months, the little one wrapped herself in three blankets.
Despite his neglect, the boy still managed to attend the nearby school every day. The teaching staff described him in court as ‘very mature and very resilient’. He always did his homework.
Apparently none of the teachers knew about the boy’s fate. On the contrary, they considered him an exemplary student. “He was smiling, a very good student, always neat and polite,” Barbara Couturier, the mayor of Nersac, told TF1. “There was no sign that he was completely alone.”
Never went out, always stayed home
However, classmates say that the boy openly talked about his life alone. “He told his classmates that he ate alone and rode the bus alone,” one student told the TV station. “He never went out, he always stayed at home.”
Eventually, concerned neighbors raised the alarm. The police started an investigation. The mother, who had custody after the boy’s father split, denied in court that she had ever left her son alone. “I’m not a mother hen,” is one of her statements. “But he’s still my son.”
Analyzes of telephone and geolocation data convicted them of lying. She had visited the apartment where her son survived only twice a year.
I don’t want to see mother anymore
Meanwhile, the boy, whose identity remains anonymous, lives with a foster family. He reportedly refuses to see his mother. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison for abandoning a minor. One year of the sentence is conditional.
The 39-year-old is currently serving her sentence under house arrest. The court also sentenced her to mother therapy.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
