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Agence France-Presse

A mother in Sweden has been arrested on suspicion of locking her son inside their flat for 28 years, leaving him undernourished and with almost no teeth, police and media reports said on Tuesday.
“The mother is suspected of illegal deprivation of liberty and causing bodily harm,” said Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling. He confirmed the man had been “locked up for a very long time” in the flat in a southern Stockholm suburb, but would not comment on reports in dailies Expressen and Aftonbladet that he had been held for 28 years.
The reports said the mother had pulled her son out of school when he was 12 and kept him locked inside the flat since then.
An unnamed relative found the now 41-year-old man on Sunday after the mother, in her 70s, had been taken to hospital, Expressen reported
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The man had infected sores on his legs, could barely walk, had almost no teeth and limited speech ability, the reports said.
Osterling would not comment on those details, saying only: “The man is in hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening.”
Doctors at the hospital had alerted police to the case. The mother has denied the crimes, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said.
Police tape was stretched across the apartment’s door on Tuesday, and crime scene technicians were seen leaving the scene around midday.
The flat is located in a nondescript grey and yellow low-rise building in the working class suburb of Handen in Haninge municipality.

The unidentified relative who found the man said the flat looked like it had not been cleaned in years.
“There was urine, dirt and dust. It smelled rotten,” she told Expressen, adding that she had to wade through piles of junk to get through the hallways.
“I’m in shock, broken-hearted, but at the same time relieved. I’ve been waiting for this day for 20 years because I figured out that she was totally controlling his life, but I never imagined the extent of it,” she said.
“I knew he was there and that he must be scared because his mother was his only sense of security and now she was gone,” she added.
How do you know what’s going on behind closed doors? It’s all so awful, you can’t believe it’s true.
Neighbour
There was no immediate explanation for the mother’s alleged actions. “She stole his life from him and manipulated the people around her in order to keep her secret,” the relative said. “I’m just thankful that he got help and is going to survive.”
One unidentified neighbour, who lived in the same building, told Aftonbladet that she ran into the man at a nearby grocery store a few months ago.
“I know who you are, you’re my neighbour,” the man had told her, recognising her after having seen her through the window, she said.

But most other people in the neighbourhood told local media they had not seen the man for years. “They almost never went outside, never even opened the windows for fresh air. It’s been holed up,” another woman from the building told Aftonbladet.
Many neighbours wondered why neither social services, the school nor any other authority ever checked in on the boy over the years.
“And when we’ve had renovations done in the building, how can no one have noticed? Workmen have been here,” one woman told Aftonbladet.
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Another woman said she occasionally ran into the mother. “We talked about small stuff, like you do. Sometimes I asked about the boy, and she just said he was fine, she never really talked about him.”
She however added that she found it odd that their window was never open, and the same candlestick had been in the window for 30 years.
“But what can you do? How do you know what’s going on behind closed doors? It’s all so awful, you can’t believe it’s true,” she said.


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Mother in Sweden arrested for locking up son for at least 28 years

Police at the scene of a flat where a woman is suspected of locking up her son, in Haninge, south of Stockholm. Photo: AP

Police at the scene of an apartment where a woman is suspected of locking up her son, in Haninge, south of Stockholm, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. Police in Stockholm are investigating a woman in her 70s for locking up her son for 28 years in an apartment south of the Swedish capital, investigators said Tuesday. Prosecutor Emma Olsson, who heads the preliminary investigation, said the woman who was arrested Monday, was held on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty and grievous bodily harm. (Claudio Bresciani/TT via AP)

Barrier tape of the police is fixed on the door of an apartment in Haninge, south of Stockholm, on December 1, 2020, one day after a man in his 40s who was kept locked by his mother was found there. - A mother in Sweden has been arrested on suspicion of locking her son inside their apartment for 28 years, leaving him undernourished and with almost no teeth, police and media reports said. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)

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The man, 41, had almost no teeth, infected sores on his legs, could barely walk, and had limited speech ability
Local media said the woman, in her 70s, had pulled her son out of school when he was 12



The man, 41, had almost no teeth, infected sores on his legs, could barely walk, and had limited speech ability. Local media said he was pulled out of school at 12.


Crime