A Portuguese mother who hid her baby in the boot of a car for over a year faces ten years in a French prison, as does her drunken husband.
The baby is underweight and undersized for its age having apparently spent its entire life in the boot of a car in the Dordogne.
The French police are questioning the Portuguese mother who kept the 'secret baby ' in the boot until it was found by mechanics working on the Peugeot 307. Neighbours of the couple and outraged French media today questioned how the child could remained undetected for so long.
Mechanics carrying out repairs to the estate car were alerted on hearing strange moaning noises coming from the rear of the vehicle. The Portuguese mother known as Marie-Rose claimed the noise came from toys but the men opened the boot and were horrified to discover a small, dehydrated child lying naked in its own excrement.
Paramedics were called and the child was immediately taken to hospital.
The mother told reporters that she had kept the child's existence from her husband, an unemployed Portuguese builder. Police were unable to question him immediately due to the fact he was totally drunk. The mother said she gave birth alone then hid the baby in the boot of the car.
The child is between 15 and 22 months old and can not speak a word in any language. Neighbours in Brignac-la-Plaine in the Corrèze départment said they were unaware and unsuspecting of the existence of the child whose parents have been charged with child abuse and neglect.
The couple face a ten year sentence if convicted and have three other children, all four have been taken into care.
