Pair, 82 and 60, charged as woman 'locked in garage and forced to wash with bleach'

An 82-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman have been charged with "abduction with torture or acts of barbarism" after a woman claimed she had been locked in a garage for five years. The woman, 45, was allegedly held in the commune of Saint-Molf, north of Guerande in western France.

The alleged victim, who claims she had been forced to live in a small locked garage attached to a house, reportedly reached the home of a neighbour at around 9.30am on October 14. "Mostly undressed, she came and knocked on the window," explaining that she had been "held captive" for five years, Nantes public prosecutor Antoine Leroy said on Wednesday (October 22). The alleged victim had reportedly been living in a shared apartment with another woman. According to FranceBleu, the roommate was a nursing assistant at the Guerande hospital, where she met the elderly man and brought him home. The pair then allegedly locked up the woman, embezzled her money, her social security benefits and emptied her bank accounts.

She was then allegedly "asked to leave the house and go and live in the garden, either outside, in a tent, or in a garage attached to the house," Mr Leroy added.

He said the woman was allegedly forced to sleep in "extremely precarious conditions" on a deckchair and was forced to defecate in a potty or plastic bags. She allegedly had to eat porridge mixed with dish soap, wash herself with bleach and was drugged with medication, Mr Leroy added.

The woman was reportedly left outside in the rain and cold for entire days when she was allowed out of the garage by her alleged captors.

There had been no trace of her since her divorce in 2022.

"Her bank accounts showed a sudden break in her lifestyle, with no movement appearing since that date, the last bank transactions corresponding to transfers to the defendant's account," Mr Leroy added.

Then, on October 14, she reportedly managed to sneak away while the man was watching television. Upon her arrival at the neighbour's house, the police were called. There, they discovered the frail woman who had lost nearly 50kg (8lbs) and was suffering from hypothermia.

During searches of the house, investigators discovered a garage door blocked from the outside by concrete blocks.

An investigation into the case remains under way, but when interviewed in police custody, the pair confirmed "the material conditions" in which the alleged victim "lived in their home, while minimising their share of responsibility," explained Mr Leroy.

The pair were arrested last week and have since been charged with "criminal acts of kidnapping with torture or acts of barbarism". They were also reportedly charged with the "fraudulent abuse" of "a person's state of psychological or physical subjection" and the "weakness of a vulnerable person". The man was placed under judicial supervision, while the woman was remanded in custody.