Parents 'Kept Their Daughter In A Cupboard'
4:18pm UK, Wednesday February 03, 2010
A couple have been charged over allegations that they kept their daughter in a cupboard for a year.
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Alfredo and Leticia Ines are said to have kept their daughter in a cupboard
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The 12-year-old girl was let out to go to school but once back home was only released to use the bathroom and occasionally to eat, according to police in Brownsville, Texas. She was not allowed to play with her three brothers and is said to have used a bucket as a toilet at night, which she would wash out every morning.
Yet she managed to maintain steady grades at school by doing her homework by the light coming from underneath the crack of the door.
Police were tipped off about the alleged abuse when one of the brothers reported it to officials at his school, prompting a probe by child protection services. The girl was so malnourished she appeared to be only eight years old, according to police. Her mother Leticia, 40, and her husband Alfredo Ines, 43, have been charged with second-degree injury to a child and unlawful restraint.
Sergeant Jimmy Manrrique, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department told The Brownsville Herald: "Everyone in the house knew what was going on, but you have children, who based on fear, hold this secret." The girl's mother reportedly said in a police interview that she had kept her daughter shut away to prevent her from stealing food from the refrigerator. The couple's three boys, aged 17, 13 and 11, were apparently not abused and have been placed in the care of family members. Alfredo Ines, a maintenance worker, is said to be the father of the youngest son only. The girl is now in foster care.
