Three German children who had been forced to stay in a "house of horrors" from a Covid lockdown in Spain for years by their parents, even after pandemic restrictions were eased, were miraculously rescued. The siblings, who are twins of ages eight and a ten-year-old, were finally evacuated from the house in Oviedo, in northwest Spain, last week by the authorities after they had been held inside since 2021, according to The New York Post, which cited local publication El Comercio. "All three children started to breathe deeply as if they had never been outside before as soon as we brought them out," the official stated.
Police apprehended and charged their parents, a 53-year-old German and his 48-year-old American wife with a German passport, with domestic violence, habitual psychological abuse, and child desertion. According to the officials, the entire family was forced to live in complete lockdown for some years with no access to the outside world since both parents were reportedly suffering from "COVID Syndrome."
The kids living there had not been attending school for a long time, said the neighbours, who informed the authorities about the family. An officer spoke about the children, telling the portal El Mundo, "The children were in terrible condition. It was blatantly obscene. They had been fed, so they weren't starving. Not only did they not go to school, but they were also filthy and detached from reality. They panicked when they saw a snail when we brought them outside to the garden, where they refused to go."
Police found that the family had rented out the house in October 2021, with only the father's name registered, according to the local outlet. Officers looked into the matter and found that only the father used to leave the house to get the mail and groceries, and neighbours told them they hadn't seen the family since December 2021.
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Oviedo Police Chief Javier Lozano called the property a "house of horrors" at a press conference. He said, "We have dismantled the house of horrors and given three children their lives back."
This isn't the only instance, though. A woman and her 10-year-old kid were saved by Gurugram police earlier in 2023 after they had confined themselves to a flat for three years in order to avoid the coronavirus.