The Swedish Police has held a woman on suspicion of locking her son inside
their apartment, reportedly for 28 years, AFP reported on Tuesday.

The man who is now in 40s was found by an unnamed relative on Sunday in a
malnourished condition with almost no teeth. He had infected sores on his legs,
could barely walk and had limited speech ability, the reports said

Also Read: Swedish Gymnastics Federation allows teenagers choose gender category

“The mother is suspected of illegal deprivation of liberty and causing
bodily harm,” Stockholm Police spokesperson, Ola Osterling told AFP.

He also informed that the man is believed to be locked up for decades in an
apartment in southern Stockholm suburb, but is still not determined that he had
been confined for 28 years as reports by Expressen and Aftonbladet claims.

The report alleges that the suspected mother had pulled her son out of
school when he was 12 and kept him locked inside the apartment since then.

The mother on the other hand has denied all the allegations, the Swedish
Prosecution Authority said.

The unidentified relative who found the man said the apartment looked like
it had not been cleaned in years.

“There was urine, dirt and dust. It smelled rotten,” she told
Expressen, adding that she had to wade through piles of junk to get through the
hallways.

“I’m in shock, brokenhearted, but at the same time relieved. I’ve been
waiting for this day for 20 years because I figured out that she was totally
controlling his life, but I never imagined the extent of it,” she added.

There was no immediate explanation for the mother’s alleged actions.

One unidentified neighbour, who lived in the same building, told
Aftonbladet that she ran into the man at a nearby grocery store a few months
ago while others in the neighborhood told local media that they hadn’t seen the
man for years.

Many neighbors wondered why neither social services, the school nor any
other authority ever checked in on the boy over the years.

“And when we’ve had renovations done in the building, how can no one
have noticed? Workmen have been here,” one woman told Aftonbladet.

Also Read: Narcolepsy fiasco spurs COVID vaccine fears in Sweden

Another woman said she occasionally ran into the mother.

“We talked about small stuff, like you do. Sometimes I asked about the
boy, and she just said he was fine, she never really talked about him,”
she said.

She however added that she found it odd that their window was never open,
and the same candlestick had been in the window for 30 years.

“But what can you do? How do you know what’s going on behind closed
doors? It’s all so awful, you can’t believe it’s true,” she added.