{"id":317671,"date":"2026-04-12T21:55:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=317671"},"modified":"2026-04-12T21:55:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:25:31","slug":"child-9-locked-in-seated-position-in-fathers-van-for-years-unable-to-walk-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/child-9-locked-in-seated-position-in-fathers-van-for-years-unable-to-walk-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Child, 9, locked in seated position in father’s van for years ‘unable to walk’ | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Outside view of the constructing where a 9-year-old boy was rescued this week after living locked in his father\u2019s utility van since 2024, in Hagenbach, Eastern France (Picture: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A nine-year-old boy who was trapped in his dad\u2019s van for 2 years, malnourished and without access to a rest room, has been rescued.<\/p>\n

Neighbour heard \u2018sounds of a baby\u2019 coming from a van, near but were initially told it was only a cat.<\/p>\n

But officers who broke the vehicle open found the kid \u2018lying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement,\u2019 in Hagenback, on the Swiss and German borders, on Monday.<\/p>\n

In keeping with prosecutor Nicolas Heitz, the daddy, 43, told police that he put his son within the van in November 2024 \u2018to guard him\u2019 because his partner, 37, desired to send him to a psychiatric hospital.<\/p>\n

He also outlined the conditions his father held him in, telling the kid to urinate in plastic bottles and defecate in bin bags, adding that his last shower was at the tip of 2024.<\/p>\n

The kid was visibly malnourished and will now not walk because he had been kept in a seated position for therefore long. He has now been taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

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The perimeter of Hagenbach where the kid was rescued (Picture: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Heitz said the boy had no record of psychiatric issues before his disappearance and that he had good marks in school.<\/p>\n

The kid told police that he had \u2018big difficulties\u2019 along with his father\u2019s partner and that he thought his dad had \u2018no alternative\u2019 aside from to lock him up.<\/p>\n

His father was held in police custody on kidnapping charges after his arrest, while the partner denied knowing anything in regards to the boy being within the van.<\/p>\n

She was also charged with failing to assist a minor at risk but was released under judicial supervision.<\/p>\n

The boy also has a 12-year-old sister, while the partner has a 10-year-old daughter too, who lived in a block of flats with the couple. <\/p>\n

Each of them were taken into care by social services.<\/p>\n

Family and friends told police they thought the boy was already in a psychiatric institution while his teachers were told he had moved to a brand new school \u2013 now detectives are looking into whether other people knew about his imprisonment.<\/p>\n

Residents said they heard noises coming from the van but were told it was a cat. One, called Danielle, told reporters it was \u2018truly devastating\u2019.<\/p>\n

She said: \u2018We don\u2019t understand it. It\u2019s horrific, there are not any words.<\/p>\n

\u2018I never once noticed anything, never heard anything \u2026 It looks like we\u2019re living in a movie or a dream, and we keep considering, \u201cTomorrow I\u2019ll get up, and possibly it\u2019s not real.\u201d We just can\u2019t comprehend it.\u2019<\/p>\n

The victim and his relatives weren’t named.<\/p>\n

Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Mum of girl, 7, killed by FedEx driver begs: \u2018Stop sharing moment of her kidnap\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Trespasser caused nearly \u00a31,000,000 value of delays after stopping trains<\/span><\/p>\n

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Outside view of the constructing where a 9-year-old boy was rescued this week after living locked in his father\u2019s utility van since 2024, in Hagenbach, Eastern France (Picture: AP) A nine-year-old boy who was trapped in his dad\u2019s van for 2 years, malnourished and without access to a rest room, has been rescued. Neighbour heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":317672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[2117,12473,8200,395,1096,6208,14285,3826,9203,813,1303],"class_list":["post-317671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-child","tag-fathers","tag-locked","tag-news","tag-position","tag-seated","tag-unable","tag-van","tag-walk","tag-world","tag-years"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317671"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317674,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317671\/revisions\/317674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}