SIEGEN - In Germany, a major investigation has been launched into an eight-year-old girl who has been locked up in her grandparents' house for most of her life. This has been announced by the public prosecutor of Siegen, a town in the west of the country. Authorities have launched an investigation against the mother and grandparents.

They would not have let the child go to school. She was also not allowed to play with other children. The girl would not have left the grandparents' house in the town of Attendorn. She could read and count.


The mother allegedly told social services that she would move to Italy. The father lived separately from the family. When the Italian authorities announced that the mother and daughter were not staying in the country, the youth protection services went to the grandparents' house in September. There they saw the daughter.


Deprivation of liberty 

An explanation as to why the child was denied all contact is not yet available. Both the mother and the grandparents invoke their right to remain silent. They are charged with deprivation of liberty. Attendorn is a close-knit community, but even the neighbors claim not to have known that mother and child lived in the house. The girl is now in foster care. There are no signs of physical abuse or malnutrition. The court will appoint a new guardian and have the child examined.