A stepfather has been arrested after allegedly locking a nine-year-old boy in a small cupboard for 15 days. The child was found locked in a storage cupboard that was just over a square meter in size in his family home, which he shares with his mum, stepfather and three brothers in Mérindol, a village in southern Luberon in France. The little boy had reportedly been forced to use a basin as a toilet and without a mattress. Authorities were alerted by an anonymous source, and the boy was rescued by police on Friday, May 22. Neighbours reported that he was often left out of family outings and that he “was always being punished”. It is believed that while the boy attended school, he was not allowed to go outside or shower, according to the French paper Le Dauphiné Libéré. The French paper has reported that the child has been hospitalised and appeared very weak and thin. The police were let into small family home located in Mérindol, a village of just 2,000 people, by the …