French boy found living as recluse with mother

A 14-year-old boy was taken into state care in northwest France after he was found living as a recluse with his mother, who faces prosecution, officials and reports said Friday.

Published: 19 May 2023 15:44 CEST

French boy found living as recluse with mother

Illustration photo by MARTIN BUREAU / AFP

The teenager was born in the Philippines to a French mother, but brought up in Paris before moving to the city of Rennes without ever being registered with authorities or sent to school.

His mother, 48, was charged on Monday with neglecting her legal obligations and causing harm to a child, as well as causing harm by depriving a child of healthcare or food, which carries a maximum seven-year jail term, the local prosecutor’s office said.

The mother’s lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, told AFP it was wrong to see it as a case of “mistreatment”, adding that his client was from a wealthy background.

“It’s what is unusual in this case: he is over-loved. The mother is suffocating and allows him to do what he wants. He eats what he wants, and studies what he wants,” he added.

Authorities began investigating when the teenager was admitted to hospital in Rennes last July weighing only 25 kilograms, around half the norm for his age, and showing severe learning difficulties, the Ouest France newspaper reported.

Ludot said he weighed 33 kilograms when he was taken into state care.

“We were happy. Now we’re both unhappy,” the woman told the BFM news channel in an interview.

“I’ve been doing the best for my son from the beginning. Both by opening the world to him according to his age and protecting him.”

His mother denied he had “ever gone to bed hungry” and said she allowed him to leave the home for cultural activities such as going to the library.

Homeschooling is only allowed in specific circumstances in France.

Parents can ask for permission to homeschool – for example for health reasons or a disability – but must agree to regular inspections from local education authorities.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.