update on what we know
A chilling story. Almost a week after the discovery of a dozen abused children in a house in Noyelles-sous-Lens (Pas-de-Calais), there are still many questions. Why had nothing been done earlier? How far did the parents go? What about children?
As a reminder, on Tuesday August 30, the police discovered several children from the same siblings, all living in sometimes appalling conditions. Shortly before the police intervention, one of the ten children of the family had crossed the door of the local police station. Faced with the police, the eldest of the family then explains in what conditions his brothers and sisters live in Noyelles-sous-Lens, a town located just a few kilometers from the city of Lens.
On the spot, the police fall in front of two children – aged two and five – strapped into their high chairs. For the youngest, the police officers note that he is suffering from speech problems and that he can hardly move. After the launch of the investigation, the police realize that the children of the family go to school very little.
The children showed “no signs of serious abuse”
At the origin of the alert, the young man no longer lived in the family home. According to his testimony, he would have come into the house and would have been thrown out of it following an argument with his father.
In total, the family has ten children, aged from 4 months to 24 years. Only six still lived in the house in Noyelles-sous-Lens on a daily basis. According to the Béthune public prosecutor’s office, the children did not present “no signs of serious abuse which caused scars”.
Placed separately in foster familiesthe children should have had a violent and deprivation of liberty childhood. Testimonies similar to that given by the 24-year-old eldest, in front of the police.
What about the parents?
According to the first elements, the father would be 44 years old and the mother, she, 40 years old. The couple is in a very precarious situation financially. He being a black mechanic and her unemployed.
On Sunday September 4, Béthune prosecutor Thierry Dran indicated that the couple would be judged next January, before the Criminal Court. They are prosecuted for “subtraction by ascendant from legal obligations” and “violence of a minor under 15 by ascendant”, without total incapacity for work. For these facts, both parents encourage up to five years in prison.
In front of the children’s elementary school, the parents of the students felt that he should have acted earlier. “Yes, we often saw them…with their bottles. It’s mean to say, but it’s true. There had been plenty of problems with the little ones. It’s not up to us to move, it was to the teachers. Me, I am upset”, declares a mother, crossed in front of the school. Conversely, a friend of the family assures that the children “did not miss anything”. “We tie them up so that they don’t fall. Between ‘tied’ and ‘tied up’, there is a difference”, assures Sylvie. “It was not easy for the parents”.
Has the state failed in its mission?
A “administrative investigation” will be carried out on the “failures” the care of this family, known to social services since 2013, whose parents have just been sent to justice for mistreatment of their ten children, the government announced on Monday, September 5. The family was not known to Justice.