A seven-year-old child was found dead by police at his home in Perpignan on Thursday September 14. The young boy and his two little sisters show signs of violence. Their father and uncle were taken into police custody.
[Mis à jour le 15 septembre 2023 à 17h00] It is a macabre discovery which still remains to be clarified. A seven-year-old child was found dead at his home in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales). The body of the little boy was discovered by the police shortly on Thursday September 14, 2023, according to The Independent. The discovery took place around 6:30 p.m., specifies BFMTV. He was lying in the bathroom bathtub and showed brownish marks that could suggest signs of freezing, a hypothesis reinforced by the presence of a small freezer next to the bathtub mentioned by the news channel. The Parisian indicates for his part that the father would have declared having put the body of the boy in a freezer in order to preserve it, and that the body of the little boy was disarticulated and bore traces of violence.
A criminal investigation into “murder of a minor under 15 years of age, attempted murder, violence against minors under 15 years of age by ascendant, concealment of a corpse, forgery and use of forged documents and kidnapping” has been opened, announced the public prosecutor’s office in Perpignan. The Perpignan youth protection service and the criminal brigade of the Perpignan police station are responsible for the investigations.
The father of the child placed in police custody
The police intervened in the apartment at the Peupliers residence, in Perpignan, after being notified by the funeral directors who had been contacted by the father of the child earlier in the day. The man, aged 33, would have sought information on the arrangements for burying his son. It was also the victim’s death certificate sent by the father to the funeral directors which would have tipped off the company. The doctor supposed to have written the certificate thus indicated to the funeral directors that he had never completed the document in question, according to the details of the Parisian.
Still according to the Ile-de-France newspaper, the police had to use a battering ram to enter the apartment. Once in the apartment, they found the father, who was conscious but had a cable around his neck that could be that of a drill. His hands were also partly tied behind his back. He was arrested and placed in police custody, said a press release from the Perpignan public prosecutor, Jean-David Cavaillé. The man is known to the police for domestic violence, but has never been convicted.
The victim’s sisters hospitalized, their uncle also in police custody
Two girls, aged two and three and identified as the victim’s sisters, were hospitalized on the afternoon of September 14. It was their uncle who drove them to the hospital Thursday afternoon, according to BFMTV. Both had facial injuries and one of them was unconscious at the time of her hospitalization. They bear “traces of multiple trauma” according to the press release from the public prosecutor. The uncle was also taken into custody. He is 28 years old, according to The Parisian.
The two little girls and the deceased little boy were all in the care of their father, their mother suffering from a mental disability. An investigation into domestic violence is underway and the judge estimated that the man “presented guarantees with regard to educational elements” to retain custody of the children during the investigations, according to a source close to the investigation. BFMTV. According to neighbors interviewed by The independentthe family was discreet and the father is described as “a little weird”.
