Daughter enslaved - police arrest suspicious parents

Investigators in Rome have arrested a Bosnian couple on suspicion of having enslaved their own daughter. The 14-year-old was physically and verbally abused, she starved and had to beg in front of a supermarket, the Italian police said on Sunday in Rome.

As the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera" reports, the father prevented the girl from going to school and abused her, especially when she did not bring enough money home from her begging tours.

In addition, she was promised against her will to a stranger for money in marriage. The suspected man (41) was imprisoned and his 36-year-old wife was placed under house arrest.

According to the authorities, the minor reported the case herself in October. She appeared spontaneously at a police station and reported in tears about the crimes she had experienced over the years. "I want to go to school," she is said to have said, according to "Corriere della Sera" at the station. The investigators are said to have questioned the managers and sellers of the affected supermarkets, in front of whom the minors begged, and customers.

After her report, the girl was immediately placed in a protective facility. The investigators are now checking whether the girl's younger siblings were also abused by her parents.