In February 2023, a 3-year-old little girl was discovered in a drawer in England. She had been there since birth and had never seen the light of day. The mother was sentenced to seven years in prison.
For the first three years of her life, a little girl was locked in a bed drawer by her mother. Discovered in February 2023, she suffered from dehydration and malnutrition, had never seen the light of day or a human face other than that of her mother, who was sentenced to seven years in prison.
It was a partner of the mother who, while wanting to go to the toilet, discovered the existence of the child by hearing a noise. First to arrive on the scene, a social worker testified in court. “I was stunned by what I saw and was extremely shocked to see a baby looking at me, sitting in a crib drawer. I looked at her mother and asked, ‘is this where you keep her?’. The mother replied in a neutral tone, ‘yes, in the drawer’. I was shocked that the mother showed no emotion and seemed unconcerned about the situation.“.
“I asked if anyone else had ever seen the child. She told me ‘no’. I felt overcome with horror at the idea that I was probably the only face the little girl had seen other than her mother’s.“, then continued the social worker in comments relayed by the Guardian.
The mother explained that she had had an abusive relationship with the baby’s father and did not want to tell him she was pregnant. She then put the child in a drawer and came back from time to time to feed him and change his diaper. After examination by medical experts, it appeared that the little girl could neither crawl, nor speak, nor make any significant noise. His development was equivalent to a 10 month old baby.
The little girl was placed in a foster family, the mother was sentenced to seven years in prison. “You deprived this little girl of love, attention or interaction with others, a proper diet and the medical care she needed“, declared the judge in charge of the case before continuing, “this little girl was locked alone in a room. What you did was incredibly wicked. Your actions were catastrophic. She is now coming back to life after what was probably a living death“.
england drawer mother daughter 3 years prison
