He lived in “terror”: a man reduced to slavery for 17 years by carnies depriving him of 120,000 euros in benefits

Dehumanization, unpaid household chores, embezzlement of unemployment benefits… A family of four Spanish fairground workers were arrested, accused of having reduced a man to slavery for 17 years. The victim, who will be 70 years old, was found and released by the Spanish gendarmerie in March 2024 in Caparroso, Navarre.

The man said he lived in “terror”. Forced to do the family's household chores and ride maintenance without any compensation.

He slept in the fairground's trailer or on a mattress on the floor in a garage and had to “shower and relieve himself in the street” in front of everyone, was fed “almost exclusively on sandwiches”, said the Guarda Civil .

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120,000 euros in cash

During a search, the gendarmes seized 120,000 euros in cash, which would correspond to the misappropriation of benefits, including unemployment, from the septuagenarian by the family.

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The victim, who had broken off all contact with her own family, had spoken with her daughter. He allegedly admitted to her that he wanted to leave the family of fairground workers “who treated him like a slave”. She notified the authorities.