Liege girls with mother’s boyfriend

25 July 2007

BRUSSELS – The two Liege sisters, Océane (2) and Manon (4), who had been missing since last week, were found yesterday evening at about 9.30 p.m., fit and well, at the home of their mother’s boyfriend in Liege.

The two young girls had been kept hidden for a week. From the outset it was assumed that this was purely a family issue. Child Focus had therefore decided not to circulate missing leaflets. Last Saturday two people were detained at the request of the investigating judge, Simone Coelst.

The two girls lived both with their mother and their grandmother in the Sainte-Walburge district of Liege. Following an investigation by the juvenile court, it was decided to put them in care, as the sanitary circumstances in which they lived were inadequate.

But then the mother picked the children up from their grandmother’s and took them to their foster father in Andenne. From then on there was no sign of them. The foster father stated that he had taken them to friends in France but he refused to give details of their exactl whereabouts. Since then, the 68 year-old man has been held in Lantin prison.

The police had issued an international search warrant, but had no photo of the children, as the grandmother and another member of the family had disappeared and only they had a photo of the two girls. The Missing Persons unit of the federal police were not allowed to handle the case.

Subject: Belgian news