After many months had passed, the neighbors realized that the boy was living on his own so they called the police. According to the mayor of the community: ” challenge anyone who would’ve been able to detect this situation: a clean boy, a good student who was doing his homework.

“I think it was also a kind of protective shield that he built around himself to say ‘everything is fine.’”

One of the neighbors did report that she was verbally abusive to her son and they could hear her swearing regularly.

The mother, who has kept her identity hidden, was prosecuted for abandoning her child and for not looking after his safety.

In court, they showed phone records to demonstrate that she was not living with her son and that he went to school and continued to work on his grades. When she was probed, she rejected the allegations, but the neighbors proved he was living alone.

The boy’s mother was sentenced to 18 months in prison and will wear an electronic monitoring device for six months. Now that the youngster is in his teens, he says she has only seen him once in his foster home and he does not want any more contact from her.