French investigators are trying to unravel the harrowing case of a girl who was found in the boot of a car and who might have been hidden there since birth, reports The Guardian.
A mechanic discovered the naked, malnourished and dehydrated child aged between 15 and 23 months on Friday while the car was at a garage in Terrasson, Corrèze, central France.
The garage workers told TF1 television that a woman in her 40s brought a Peugeot estate car in for a basic repair that involved changing a part. When the workers heard scratching and moaning from the boot, they asked the woman if she had a dog or cat in there.
She said the noise was probably a child's electronic toy that had switched itself on. A mechanic opened the boot and found a naked child lying on bin bags amid excrement, "gasping for air". The mechanic said the smell was overwhelming and the child seemed "dehydrated, very, very dirty and feverish".
Hospital tests on the child showed significant developmental problems and delayed growth. Investigators are trying to establish whether the girl, whose birth was never registered, has been kept hidden from the mother's partner and three other children in order to conceal her existence since birth.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.