The prosecution requested two years in prison suspended probationary against the parents. Despite several reports since 2013, it was the denunciation of violence by one of the elders of the siblings of ten children, in August 2022, who burst the family camera.
By Florence TRAULLÉ (Lille, correspondent)
Until the end, they denied the punches, the belt strokes, the slaps. Before the Correctional Court of Bethune (Pas-de-Calais), this couple of Noyelles-sous-Lens just recognizes spanking, tesses on the hands, insults. Almost nothing.
Marc R. gray and flush hair, contemplates the floor of the courtroom. Christine B., emaciated face on which spreads deep dark circles hides the tremors of her tight hands between her thighs. They have been judged since Thursday, January 19 for violence by ascendant on minors under the age of 15 and subtraction of their legal obligations as parents, compromising the health, security, morality or education of their children.
The family closed door exploded on August 30, 2022 when Bryan, one of the elders of this siblings of ten children, alerts social services “after the dispute of too much”. He accuses his parents of serious violence on his younger brothers and sisters.
The next day, in the red brick house where the family lives in Noyelles-sous-Lens, the police discover two little girls, 4 and a half and 2 years old, attached in high chairs where, obviously, they passed All night long. Like every night for several weeks. They are strapped by so tight belts that you will need scissors to detach them. The two girls are dirty, their diapers overflow, have not been changed since the day before. The rest is amendment, a house that goes to the water, a teenager who sleeps on a filthy mattress, children have teeth in a appalling state for lack of hygiene.
“The House of horror “
The case triggers a media excitement which amazes in Bethune, where affairs of family violence are common. For some media, it becomes that of “the House of Horror”. We hear about whips, sticks, children covered with their excrement. The public prosecutor organizes a press conference to try to calm the spirits. The Secretary of State for Childhood, Charlotte Caubel, moves. She speaks of “failures” in the “coordination” of child protection services and announces the opening of an administrative inquiry whose conclusions are expected.
Four months later – an exceptionally rapid hearing period – the couple faces the court. Three of their children are in the room. The father, who knows how to “read a little but not to write, says he was” exceeded “by the family charge. The mother continues: “I could no longer. I was physically and mentally exhausted.” So yes, they have taken, they recognize, but they fiercely minimize the serious violence that several children accuse them.
You have 46.08% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.