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CRIME

Couple that abandoned kids in Italy found

Italian police have reportedly found the German couple that abandoned three young children earlier this week. The two were picked up alive in a nearby forest.

Couple that abandoned kids in Italy found
Photo: DPA

The Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that Caterina Remhof and Sascha Schmidt were located approximately 10 kilometres from the pizzeria in Aosta, where they left the mother’s three children on Sunday after telling the manager they were stepping out for a cigarette. They are now being held at a police station.

When Remhof and Schmidt didn’t return to the restaurant, police discovered they had left their personal documents in their vehicle and fled the area. The Italian authorities have been feverishly patrolling border crossing, train stations and airports to find the couple.

The Siegen district prosecutor’s office confirmed earlier on Thursday that the 24-year-old Schmidt was a fugitive from justice.

He is not the father of the children – an infant, a two-year-old and a four-year-old. German social workers will travel to Italy on Friday to bring them back to their home in Sauerland on Friday, authorities said.

According to the Siegen district prosecutor’s office, Schmidt is supposed to be serving a long sentence for blackmail. He did not return from a two-day parole from prison in early April, authorities said.

Meanwhile a district court in Lennestadt conducted an emergency proceeding to deny the 26-year-old mother Remhof custody, news magazine Der Spiegel reported. Their biological father is in prison, convicted of shaking a baby to death in 2006, the magazine said.

Due to her “irresponsible behaviour,” Remhof, a resident of Finnentrop, no longer has a right to care for her children, the court said.

Italian media reports have said that the couple had financial problems, drug issues and may have been contemplating suicide.

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BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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