Italian police on Thursday said they freed a 13-year-old Romanian girl with absentee parents who was kept illiterate, undernourished and forced into begging and prostitution by other family members.
According to a police statement, the girl was freed in December 2014, when officers spotted 67-year-old man in a car parked outside a Rome supermarket soliciting sex from the teen.
It said that she was taken to a police station and later placed in foster care.
Police said that they waited to announce the girl’s release to allow investigations to take place.
“The girl was raised with the sole objective of enlarging her family’s wealth and both her and her sisters were forced to beg and were beaten with a belt.
“They were left outside naked and soaked with cold water if they did not follow the orders,’’ police said.
Police said that the family lived in a trailer park but did not give additional details about their identity.
In Italy, trailer parks are mostly inhabited by Roma one of the poorest and most marginalised groups in Italian society.
Police said that the teen’s parents abandoned her after moving to America.
In September, a judge ordered the arrest of the girl’s grandmother and three aunts for charges that included exploiting underage prostitution, forgery and organised crime activity.
However, they were not all immediately apprehended at the time.
“The grandmother and one aunt had fled to Romania but were caught following the issuance of a European arrest warrant.
“The former has already been extradited to Rome, while procedures for the aunt will take another few months,’’ Italian police said.
