The sentences handed down by the Bobigny Criminal Court are two to four years in prison with continued detention. Six children aged 10 to 16 had been begging for several years according to the investigation.
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Before the court appeared a 39-year-old father and a 37-year-old mother, as well as their 20-year-old eldest son, all of Romanian nationality. They were respectively sentenced to four, three and two years in prison with continued detention. Their various parental authorities were taken away from them. But they did not receive an inadmissibility, contrary to the requisitions of the public prosecutor.
According to the prosecution, which conducted a two-year investigation, they forced at least six minor children aged 10 to 16 to beg, the majority of whom were theirs. Two daughters-in-law, teenagers and married according to Gypsy tradition, were also observed begging, while being pregnant.
At the Bondy bridge, between the multiple lanes which intertwine, the children took advantage of a red light of varying length to wash the windows of motorists, equipped with a bottle of water full of soap and a raclette. Once the operation was finished, they asked for a small room. The money collected was the main source of income for this family who lived in cabins in a camp.
“From the moment we are able to send our children to beg, we are fully capable of sending them to school.” nevertheless criticized prosecutor Cécile Delignon by demanding “severe sentences”: six years for the father, four years for the mother, three years for their son. “It's in our tradition, (…) we beg”justified the father, committing to creating a stable life for his family once out.
“In Gypsy tradition, the child is considered a being to be pampered (…) It is factually false to say that all Gypsy children are sent to beg.”refuted the prosecutor.
According to the defendants' accounts, their children and daughters-in-law were free and went begging on their own initiative.
A ban on French territory and a loss of parental authority were also required. “Those who are in the box have no excuse, they were offered support which they did not take advantage of”said the prosecutor.
Of the six children entrusted to Child Welfare following the arrests, four ran away and remain untraceable. Two others were placed and “are doing well”according to the SOS Victimes 93 association which represented them. The family had already been in trouble with the law when one of the teenage stepdaughters, at the origin of the report, had been the subject, with her daughter aged a few months, of a secret placement in another region. . However, her trace had been found and her partner had returned to look for her.
