The partner and mother of a six-year-old girl, who is in hospital in a coma, were charged on Thursday evening in Bourges with “acts of torture and barbarity habitually committed against a child under the age of fifteen” and remanded in custody, the public prosecutor’s office announced, according to our colleagues at 20 Minutes. The six-year-old girl had been admitted to Bourges Hospital last Saturday morning.
She was suffering from several bruises,
as reported by France Bleu Berry on Thursday. The police had decided to take four members of his family into custody, including his mother.
The mother gives a false identity and flees
According to the same source, there were signs of burns and bite marks on the girl’s body. Given her condition, the doctors quickly decided to transfer her to the hospital in Tours. The mother, who was accompanying her, gave a false name at the hospital before fleeing the scene.
The two other women present claimed to have found the girl unconscious in the street and said they did not know her. “The police later discovered that they were in fact the mother and the sister of the little victim’s mother’s partner,” reports France Bleu Berry. All three were arrested in Bourges on Tuesday.
The man denies being responsible for all the injuries
The mother was arrested, along with her partner, at
Toulouse. Ella tried to escape from the police. The police do not know whether the man is the child’s father. He is reported to have admitted whilst in police custody to having struck the girl “a few times”, but denies being responsible for all of her injuries. The four individuals are due to appear before a judge this Thursday afternoon to face formal charges.
The girl’s brother (aged 6) had been placed in foster care a few months ago. The girl was also due to be placed in foster care, but her mother had strongly opposed this.
