The three-year-old child has several health problems as well as deformities. No one in the household knew of his existence, neither the mother's partner nor her other children.
Elle “had never known daylight or fresh air”explained English prosecutors during the trial of a mother on Thursday. The English courts sentenced him to seven years and six months in prison for “extreme negligence”tells the BBC. The woman living in Cheshire (an area south of Liverpool) had kept her daughter locked in a drawer since birth. The latter, aged three, was discovered by a visitor in 2023, alerted by the child's cries. No one in the household knew of his existence, neither the mother's partner nor her other children.
The visitor called a social worker to the home. The latter described the“horror” faced with what she saw in the room. “I looked at her mother and asked, “Is that where you keep her?” The mother replied matter-of-factly, “Yes, in the drawer.”she explained in court. “I was shocked that the mother showed no emotion…”added the social worker. “It was terrible to know that I was probably the only other face (the child) had seen besides his mother’s”she concluded.
The little girl was found with matted hair and showed deformities (not otherwise specified) as well as skin rashes. The mother never tried to get her treatment. The child also did not respond to his name and was malnourished. According to the court, she looked more like a seven-month-old baby than a three-year-old.
“Deprived of all love”
In police custody, the woman said she did not know she was pregnant and that she had “really scared” during childbirth. She also defended herself by ensuring that the drawer was never closed and that she let the child out from time to time. However, the little girl “wasn’t part of the family”she explained to the police.
During the trial, the judge charged the mother, declaring that the child had been “deprived of all love, affection, attention, interaction with others, proper diet and essential medical care”. “A smart little girl who is perhaps slowly coming back to life, after living in an almost dead room” he added. “You tried to control this situation as carefully as possible, but by sheer chance your terrible secret was discovered”he then said before declaring that his act “totally defied belief”. “I don’t remember such a serious case in 46 years”he concluded.
