Couple detained in northern France following death of their twin daughters
In Beuvrages, near Valenciennes, a man and woman have been placed in police custody after the death of their two fifteen-month-old daughters.
Couple detained in northern France following death of their twin daughters
In the small locality of Beuvrages, situated on the outskirts of Valenciennes, a criminal case has disturbed the local peace. Police have conducted an operation that resulted in the detention of a man and a woman, parents of six children, two of whom were infants who died in circumstances related to a lack of hydration.
The alert was raised by the individuals themselves in the middle of the day. Emergency call centre operators received a telephone call reporting that two babies, born from the same pregnancy, lay unresponsive in the room where they slept. Despite the swift intervention of emergency services, it was not possible to resuscitate the children.
Medical examiners were to carry out post-mortem examinations on Tuesday. The objective is to determine with precision the causes of death, examining in particular whether the torrid atmosphere that prevailed in the room contributed to the fatal dehydration of the children. This hypothesis is all the more plausible given that the country had just experienced a period of extreme heat.
Meanwhile, the four older siblings in the family, aged between three and six years old, were also taken to a hospital centre. Their bodies also showed signs of water deprivation, although their life prognosis was not in danger, according to information communicated to the AFP news agency.
On the judicial side, the Valenciennes public prosecutor's office announced on Monday evening that the two suspects were being prosecuted for "failure to supervise resulting in the death of minors under fifteen years of age". This criminal charge was shown on the seals affixed to the entrance of the family home, a modest building erected in a dead-end street where the couple had recently moved.
The municipal official, Ali Ben Yahia, testified on digital networks to his emotion. He presented the couple as perfectly integrated into the local community fabric, specifying that the family had left a collective apartment for this house in the hope of offering a more favourable environment for the development of their children.
The two suspects, a man of 35 years old and his companion of 32 years old, had no criminal record. They were not known to child protection services. The complete absence of warning signs makes this tragedy all the more disconcerting for the neighbourhood.
The region had been placed on red alert for extreme heat the previous week. At the time of the events, temperatures had already normalised, according to Météo France bulletins.
_Source: La Vanguardia_
Source: La Vanguardia