In Oviedo, the capital of Asturias autonomous region in northern Spain, police have arrested a couple who allegedly kept their three children locked inside their house since 2021.
Their father, referred to as “CS”, a 53-year-old German, and their mother, a 48-year-old woman with US and German citizenship, were transferred to the barracks of the Civil Guard.
The three children were placed under the guardianship of the regional government.
Francisco Javier Lozano, chief commissioner of the Oviedo police, told Spanish newspaper La Nueva Espana on April 30: “We have dismantled a house of horrors.”
The couple had allegedly forced their children to stay inside since at least December 2021, apparently to protect them from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The eight-year-old twins and 10-year-old elder brother did not go to school and were not even allowed to play in the garden of the residence in Fitoria, a rural and hilly neighbourhood on the outskirts of Oviedo.
Spanish media described the house as dirty and full of litter. The children reportedly had to wear diapers and face masks.
One police officer told reporters: “The children were oblivious to any contact with reality. One of them was touching the grass with his hands in surprise. As soon as we took them out, the three of them began to breathe deeply as if they had never been out in the open air before.”
Lozano added: “We have brought three children back to life. I never thought such a thing could happen in this country.”
The police were alerted in April this year by a neighbour. The woman told the officers she was almost certain there were children living in the couple’s house because she could sometimes hear them and see them through the windows but they never went outside or to school.
Oviedo police started observing the property at which only the father was officially registered. He never left the house – where the blinds were always drawn – either and only opened the door to receive large deliveries from supermarkets.
On April 28, shortly before the nationwide electricity blackout, seven police officers entered the house, reportedly finding the father dishevelled and barefoot.
The man apparently told the officers to wait for the children to put their face masks on.
According to La Nueva Espana, the youngsters were scared and clung to their mother who told the officers they were gravely ill and should not be approached. “They were wearing three masks each, one on top of the other,” said one officer, according to the newspaper.
The mother reportedly told police the family had moved into the house in December 2021. The couple had then decided not to let the children out of the house “to protect them and their very delicate health” – allegedly forcing them to sleep in a filthy room with no fresh air flow, according to police.
While the parents were detained by police the three children were sent to a local hospital for a health check-up after which they were handed over to social services.
