Four people have been arrested in the French city of Mulhouse after a nine-year-old boy was allegedly beaten to death for refusing to do his homework.
All four are family members of the unidentified child, who went into cardiac arrest after reportedly being beaten with a broom handle and other blunt objects by his 19-year-old brother home on 17 September.
The assault was carried out in the presence of the boy’s 20-year-old sister, who allegedly participated in the beating, and his sister-in-law.
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The fourth person arrested is the boy’s mother, who was in Paris working at the time, but is accused of encouraging the violence.
According to broadcaster FranceInfo, when informed that the boy would not do his homework, she told her older son: “He needs smacking.”
The child’s sudden death initially prompted an outpouring of support for his family, with Mulhouse residents organising a vigil to express their sympathy.
However, conflicting accounts of events from relatives, as well as an autopsy which revealed bruising on the boy’s body, particularly on the feet, led police to suspect foul play.
Earlier this week, a follow-up report by a forensic pathologist concluded that the cardiac arrest had been brought on by physical trauma, regional news website DNA reports.
On Tuesday, all four suspects were taken into custody, France Bleu reports, and they appeared in court today. The boy’s siblings were charged with causing unintentional death, while his mother is accused of complicity in the death and the sister-in-law faces a charge of failing to aid a person in danger, according to RTL reporter Samuel Goldschmidt.
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