Couple arrested after child found in car boot in France.

[dipsydoodle]

French investigators are trying to unravel the harrowing case of a girl who was found in the boot of a car and who might have been hidden there since birth.

A mechanic discovered the naked, malnourished and dehydrated child aged between 15 and 23 months on Friday while the car was at a garage in Terrasson, Corrèze, central France.

The garage workers told TF1 television that a woman in her 40s brought a Peugeot estate car in for a basic repair that involved changing a part. When the workers heard scratching and moaning from the boot, they asked the woman if she had a dog or cat in there.

She said the noise was probably a child's electronic toy that had switched itself on. A mechanic opened the boot and found a naked child lying on bin bags amid excrement, "gasping for air". The mechanic said the smell was overwhelming and the child seemed "dehydrated, very, very dirty and feverish".

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/28/child-car-boot-france

Words defeat me.

[JHB]

1. Is "boot" British-English for "trunk"?

The only car boots I know of are clamps to lock one of the wheels and prevent it from being driven off. That's obviously not what the term means in this context.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. Yes, the boot is the trunk. I think they say that in Australia, too.

[JHB]

5. Thanks

[dipsydoodle]

3. Similarly

what you call the hood we call the bonnet.

I did have a 1929 Ford Model A Sport Coupe with a rumble seat in the "trunk" - our equivalent of that is dicky seat. It also had a foot plate on the nearside rear wing to enable the mother-in-law to get in out of that seat with ease.

[JHB]

6. I knew bonnet, didn't know dickey seat

Thanks.

[get the red out]

4. It's amazing she survived

That is horrific.

[freshwest]

7. Should not have been granted bail and should lose all their parental rights.

They probably slipped away and will leave all the kids in state care. The girl, even if she survives, has a slim chance at a normal life in any case. The damage psychologically from such a start in life will likely be incurable. as those are crucial years. JMHO.