A brave French nine-year-old boy was left to fend for himself for two years after his mother completely abandoned him for years, bringing himself to school and, at times, living without heat or electricity. He survived in complete solitude for two years at his mother’s apartment in Nersac, a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. For now, his identity has remained hidden from the public.
The young boy survived all by himself from the age of 9 to 11, between 2020 and 2022, without a single adult noticing his horrific situation. According to the local French outlet Charente Libre, “nobody noticed anything,” even the school, where the boy was reported as being a good pupil.
A nine-year-old boy was left to fend for himself for two years after his mother completely abandoned him
The abandoned kid’s neighbors didn’t notice that he had been left by himself, even though they would sometimes bring him food. Local news reported that the lonesome boy would mostly feed himself with cake and cold canned food.
The resilient boy would also reportedly fetch tomatoes from the balcony of a neighbor in his building. Nevertheless, he also spent extended periods without heat or electricity and had been forced to sleep with three duvets. Sometimes, he would even have to wash himself with cold water.
His mother, who had full custody of the boy, lived five kilometers away from her son in Sireuil, a neighboring commune. According to the French publication Le Parisien, the 39-year-old woman only came to visit her boy from time to time to give him food.
As for the boy’s father, there has been no reported news about his whereabouts, and he is seemingly completely absent from his son’s life, as per Le Parisien. According to France Bleu, the mother had been separated from her son’s father and had decided to leave the apartment where she had been living with her child.
Neighbors eventually understood after many months that the little boy was living alone and subsequently alerted the police. Barbara Couturier, the mayor of Nersac, also reportedly sounded the alarm to social services.
Couturier told France Bleu: “I challenge anyone who would’ve been able to detect this situation: a clean boy, a good student who was doing his homework.
“I think it was also a kind of protective shield that he built around himself to say ‘everything is fine.’”
The mother did not take the boy to school. That he did himself, keeping his grades up
Appearing on the French broadcaster BFMTV on Tuesday (January 23), some neighbors revealed how they had witnessed the mother’s threatening behavior, as a person recalled: “We heard her swearing at the children with bad words.”
The anonymous neighbor added that the boy’s mother would display “unspeakable verbal violence” before continuing: “We wonder why these people have children.”
As per Closer Magazine, a resident affirmed that she lived in the same building where the neglectful mother was living with her girlfriend. The resident recalled: “We were scrutinized. They stood in front of their house, arms crossed, staring at me.” They added: “I was terrified, in a state of distress telling myself: ‘My God. Help, I want to move.’”
The disgraced woman, whose identity has also remained hidden, was finally prosecuted by the Angoulême court for abandoning a minor and compromising his safety.
Nobody noticed anything, even the school where the boy was reported to be a good pupil, as he also kept doing his homework despite his situation
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During the court hearing, telephonic data was presented and confirmed that the mother did not sleep at the same home as her courageous son. It also revealed that she did not take the boy to school. That he did himself, keeping his grades up.
The mother denied the accusations against her during the investigation, as well as during the court hearing. However, the neighbors confirmed that the child lived alone in the apartment, where the police found an empty fridge and no adult clothing.
On January 16, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison, six of which she will spend wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet.
The boy, who is now in his teenage years, does not want any contact with his mother, who has visited him only once since he has been rehomed with a foster family.
“You have to admire the boy,” a reader commented
