６年前にスペインで不明の英少年、仏で発見され帰国へ

【トゥールーズＡＦＰ＝時事】スペインで６年前に行方不明になり、今週フランスで発見された英国人のアレックス・バティさん（１７）が帰国することになった。検事が１５日、明らかにした。（写真は仏南西部ビルフランシュドロラゲの憲兵隊本部。アレックス・バティさんは付近の山岳部で発見された）
　バティさんは、英イングランド北部オールダム出身。２０１７年１０月８日にスペインで目撃されたのを最後に行方が分からなくなっていた。
　だが、検事によれば、バティさんは親権を持たない母親、祖父と共にスペインおよびモロッコで過ごした後、フランスに渡っていた。
　フランスでの２年間を含む６年間は「スピリチュアルな共同体」を転々とし、同じ場所に数か月以上留まることはなかったという。
　祖父は半年前に亡くなり、母親が今度はフィンランドに行くと言い出したため、バティさんは逃げ出すことを決意。トゥールーズに向かって４日間山岳地帯を歩いていたところ、今月１３日午前３時、車で通りがかった配達員に発見・保護された。
　バティさんは捜査官に対し、この６年間は身体的な暴力を受けていないが、「５歳か６歳の時に性的虐待を受けた」と語っている。
　警察は、母親と祖父が２０１７年に、スペインで休暇を過ごすと偽り、当時１１歳だったバティさんを誘拐した疑いがあるとしている。
　英メディアによれば、法廷後見人である母方の祖母のスーザン・カルアナさんは、バティさんの発見に「安堵（あんど）し、喜んでいる」。
　祖母は母親らがバティさんを連れ去った理由について、一般的な教育を受けさせず、主流からはずれた生活を送らせるためだとの見方を示しているという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/18-17:45）

A British 17-year-old found in France six years after going missing in Spain is to return home to England this weekend, a French deputy prosecutor said on Friday.
Alex Batty, from the northern English city of Oldham, was picked up by a driver in a mountainous area of southern France.
Checks by French and British police confirmed his identity.
Police have said they suspect his mother, Melanie Batty -- who did not have parental guardianship -- and grandfather David Batty of having abducted the boy in 2017 when he was 11, under the pretence of going on holiday in Spain.
They went to live in alternative lifestyle communes in Spain and subsequently the French Pyrenees.
He will be handed back to his maternal grandmother tomorrow (Saturday) or after tomorrow (Sunday) at the latest, said the deputy public prosecutor for the Toulouse region, Antoine Leroy.
He would leave France via the southern city of Toulouse or southwestern city of Bordeaux, he said.
Alex's grandmother was not able to travel and so the two would be reunited in the UK, he said, adding he was in touch with the British embassy.
Alex's grandmother Susan Caruana, who according to British media reports is his legal guardian, expressed relief and happiness over the boy's discovery.
I spoke with him last night and it was so good to hear his voice and see his face again, she said in a statement released by Greater Manchester Police.
I can't wait to see him when we're reunited.
The main thing is that he's safe, after what would be an overwhelming experience for anyone, not least a child.
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes of Greater Manchester Police earlier told reporters: Our priority is to get him back to the UK and getting back to his family in Oldham as soon as possible... I expect it to happen over the next few days.
Leroy said the boy, his mother and grandfather had been in Spain and Morocco, before crossing over to France.
For six years, including two in France, he lived a nomadic life in a spiritual community, never staying more than several months in the same place.
The teenager told investigators he had not suffered any physical violence during the past six years, but said he had been sexually abused when he was... five or six years old.
- Mother 'likely' in Finland -
The deputy prosecutor described Alex as bright and very calm.
Leroy said he decided to escape when his mother announced she was going to go to Finland, where she is likely to be now. His grandfather died six months ago.
He said the 17-year-old walked for four nights in the direction of Toulouse before he was discovered at 3:00 am (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday by a young delivery man.
Toulouse public prosecutor Samuel Vuelta-Simon earlier told AFP that social services had taken care of the teenager.
The prosecutor added that there was no doubt over the boy's identity.
Alex was last seen in Spain on October 8, 2017, the day he and his mother and grandfather were expected to return home from the family holiday.
Caruana has said she believed Alex's mother and grandfather had taken him to live with a spiritual community to seek an alternative lifestyle without traditional education.
They didn't want him to go to school. They don't believe in mainstream school, Caruana told The Times of London.
- Found by delivery driver -
The Depeche du Midi regional newspaper said Alex had been found by a student named Fabien Accidini.
Accidini, who delivers medicines to pharmacies in the area, said it was raining hard when he gave Alex a lift in his vehicle.
He said that his mother had kidnapped him when he was around 12, the student told La Depeche.
Since then, he had lived in Spain in a luxury house with around 10 people. He would have arrived in France in around 2021.
He had lived with his mother in a spiritual community in France and felt no animosity towards her but wanted to go back to his grandmother, Accidini said.
La Depeche said he had lived in France with his mother and grandfather in a nomadic community in the nearby Aude and Ariege departments.
Sykes, of the Greater Manchester Police, said that Alex had spoken to his grandmother by video call on Thursday night.
Whilst she is content that this is indeed Alex, we obviously have further checks to do when he returns to the United Kingdom, he added.
burs-ah-as/jj