The German husband, 55, is arrested after his wife, 53, was found naked with a shaved head and broken legs and fingers in a locked ‘torture’ room, ‘having been held captive in a flat in France since 2011’
- The woman was found inside a flat in Forbach, northern France on Monday.
- French police received a tip after she was able to steal a cell phone and alert their German counterparts across the border.
A German man has been arrested in France after his wife was found naked inside a “torture room” with her head shaved and her legs and fingers broken.
The 55-year-old man is accused of holding his 53-year-old wife captive in an apartment since 2011, when he claims her husband first kidnapped her.
The woman, also German, was found in an apartment in the northern French town of Forbach, on the country’s border with Germany, and was immediately taken to hospital.
The man, who according to local media is her husband, was arrested this Monday morning on suspicion of kidnapping and torture.
Reports say the woman was able to steal her husband’s cell phone and call German police from the apartment on Sunday, August 6.
A German man has been arrested in France after his wife was found naked inside a “torture room” with her head shaved and her legs and fingers broken. The woman was found in an apartment in the northern French town of Forbach, which sits on the country’s border with Germany, and was immediately taken to hospital. In the image: the building on avenue Saint-Rémy de Forbach where the woman was detained, according to local media.
The agents alerted their French counterparts across the border in the Moselle region, who conducted a search of Forbach’s apartment a day later, on August 7.
When initially confronted by police, the man is understood to have denied officers entry to the apartment. However, officials were able to enter.
Inside, they made the horrific discovery, finding the frightened victim locked inside a “protected room”, French media reported, citing a police source.
He said his head was shaved, there were signs that his legs and fingers had been broken, and he looked as if he hadn’t eaten in a long time.
Police said the bedroom was locked with metal wire.
She was treated by doctors and immediately taken to the hospital, while the man, who is now known to the police, was detained.
A case has been opened by Metz judicial police investigators who reportedly found a ‘torture bench’ inside the home, as well as a notebook in which the man is said to have noted the time he fed the alleged victim.
Officials also found metal bracing installed on the windows, though officers noted that the apartment also houses about a dozen cats, and that fencing may have been installed to prevent the animals from escaping.
The man faces charges of kidnapping, aggravated rape, and barbaric acts of torture, reports say.
