Europe 1 with AFP 11:38 a.m., January 22, 2023

A couple from Noyelles-sous-Lens, in Pas-de-Calais, was tried on Tuesday for repeated abuse of eight of their ten children.

On August 31, warned by one of the eldest sons, the police discovered in the parents' home two of the younger children "attached" to their high chairs, "in a deplorable state of hygiene".

Children tied to chairs, deprived of care, insulted: a couple from Noyelles-sous-Lens, in Pas-de-Calais, was tried on Tuesday for repeated abuse of eight of their ten children, a case in which the government had pointed to "failures" of social services.

Parents face up to five years in prison

The father, 44, and the mother, 40, will appear free, from 1:30 p.m., before the Béthune criminal court, for "violence by ascendant" on minors under 15, without ITT (total incapacity for work), and "removal by a parent from his legal obligations".

They face up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.

The facts concern seven minors aged between 9 months and 16 years old, and a 20-year-old adult.

Any acts committed on their two eldest of 21 and 24 years are prescribed.

It was the call to social services from one of the elders that triggered the seizure of the prosecution on August 30, then the arrest of the parents.

At the end of August, the police discover two children "attached"

On August 31, the police discovered two of the cadets "attached" to their high chairs, "in a deplorable state of hygiene", according to the prosecution.

When heard, the siblings will recount various abuses suffered over the years, in particular serious "negligence in hygiene, care" and "educational deficiencies".

But no trace of blows was found.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, the children denounced occasional beatings, but above all psychological violence and daily insults.

Several had "decayed teeth", "pathologies" and "development problems" poorly supported, said one of these sources.

The couple had been the subject of several reports since 2013

The case arouses a media frenzy, some evoke a "house of horror".

A qualifier "exaggerated" according to the prosecutor of Béthune, Thierry Dran.

During a trip to Arras, the Secretary of State for Children Charlotte Caubel recognizes "failures" in the "coordination" of child protection services and announces an administrative investigation.

Because the couple had been the subject, since 2013, of several reports, "not cross-checked".

During the visits of the social services, the parents "previously informed", set up "a 'normality of facade'", deplores in a press release the association l'Enfant Bleu, brought as a civil party.

She pleads for "unannounced visits" for "worrying" cases.

Lawyer for the association "Childhood and Sharing", Rodolphe Costantino regrets him a "judicial treatment in withdrawal", remained at the stage of the preliminary investigation, and the "undervaluation of the consequences of the abuse".

To award "zero ITT days", "is to deny them", he believes.

Contacted, the defendants' lawyers did not respond.