Girl hidden in Germany for years by family prompts inquiry

By Rufaro Zaranyika, Arts and Entertainment, The DAA Pawprint

An eight-year-old girl’s mother and grandparents are being investigated after German prosecutors say she was locked away for seven years.

At the end of September, she was released from the home and is now being cared for by foster parents. According to welfare workers, she has difficulty doing simple tasks like climbing stairs. According to German accounts, she had never seen a meadow or a forest.

Her mother lied to the authorities that they lived in Italy. However, prosecutors claim that a mother and her parents kept the girl hostage and isolated from the world in a house in Attendorn in the Sauerland area of western Germany for 7 years.

Authorities believe that they didn’t interact with anyone else throughout that period, didn’t attend school, and didn’t go outside. They say there’s no evidence that she was physically abused or malnourished.

Now, prosecutors are attempting to figure out what happened and how. They claim that the mother and grandparents have not spoken out about the incident and that a motive has not yet been found.

However, it is assumed that the mother, who had split from the girl’s father not long before she was born, may have been attempting to keep the child away from him.