In Seine-Maritime, a 51-year-old grandmother was sentenced to one year in prison, including six months, for having kidnapped her 7-year-old granddaughter who was to be placed in child welfare ( ASE).
Refusing to see the child, rejected by her parents, entrusted to social services, she fled to Belgium with her, extending this kidnapping over a period of three months.
A decision from the heart for a grandmother very close to her granddaughter
In June 2024, a judge ordered the placement of the little girl with the ASE due to parental abandonment. Very close to her granddaughter, the grandmother, who describes herself as a “cake granny”, could not support this decision. “She acted with her heart and out of fear,” argued her lawyer during the hearing at the Dieppe court, as reported by Paris-Normandie.
A flight to Belgium and an arrest three months later
On July 17, the girl was supposed to be presented for placement, but never appeared. The grandmother, of Belgian nationality, took the child to Belgium, where they lived in precarious conditions with acquaintances. Officially, the “subtraction of children by ascendant” took place from August 6 to October 29, 2024, the date on which the grandmother was found and arrested using telephone records and license plate reading systems.
Conviction and modified sentence
The grandmother's lawyer stressed that her client could not bear to see her granddaughter suffer and that, although she had fled, she did not intend to keep her indefinitely. In accordance with the prosecutor's requisitions, the court sentenced the grandmother to one year in prison, including six months in the form of house arrest and six months suspended probation. She will also have to undergo treatment and prove her residence.
Source: Le Parisien
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