It appeared that the boy survived on cakes, canned goods and stolen tomatoes. (symbolic picture)
A 39-year-old woman in France has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for abandoning her 9-year-old son for two years. According to cnnThe woman, identified as Alexandra, left her son to live alone in the family apartment from 2020 to 2022. The boy appears to have survived on cakes, canned goods and stolen tomatoes, often without heating or electricity. The mother, on the other hand, lived with her partner in another apartment 5 kilometers away and visited the child only “from time to time”.
The mayor of Nersac, the town where the boy lived, said the child often did not have hot water or heating. Nevertheless, he continued to attend school during this time and was a good student, said NERSAC Mayor Barbara Couturier, Shop, She also said that she alerted local and national police to the situation after the mother asked social services to help her buy food.
“I met her mother in May 2022. She came to tell us that she was having financial problems, and we gave her four vouchers for food, but she took some processed food products instead, which made me suspicious. Some residents told me “There was a child living alone, so I connected the two things and I called the local police and the national police,” Ms Couturier explained.
Quoting a local French media outlet, People It was reported that the mother’s 12-month sentence was suspended and she would serve the remaining six months in home confinement. The mayor said the child had been in the care of social services since September 19, 2022.
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In court, the judge rejected Ms Alexandra’s plea that she lived in the flat with her son. Evidence from neighbors and mobile data collected by local police refuted her claims.
According to mirrorThe 9-year-old’s ability to take care of himself helped keep authorities unaware. A classmate revealed that the boy told his friends that he ate alone and traveled alone in the bus. The friend said, he did not go out much and preferred to stay at home.
Neighbors expressed guilt for not intervening sooner to prevent neglect. He said that the secrecy of modern life helped hide the mother’s actions for so long. “When there was a family and a village around the family, if the mother neglected the child, it did not matter, because the rest of the family and the entire village took care of the child. That is no longer the case.” ,” said a resident.
