Girl ‘got into my car’, says wedding kidnap suspect

Lyon: The man charged with kidnapping a nine-year-old French girl during a wedding in the Alps has admitted during police questioning that she got into his car but denies abducting her, his lawyer said.

A week after Maelys de Araujo went missing in the eastern village of Pont-de-Beauvoisin, a 34-year-old man was remanded in custody on Sunday on charges of “kidnapping, illegal confinement or arbitrary detention”.

The man was a guest at the wedding that Maelys was attending with her parents when she went missing in the early hours Aug 27.

Her DNA was found in his car, which was parked next to the community hall where the celebrations were held and was cleaned the day after.

The suspect’s lawyer Bernard Meraud yesterday said his client told police that Maelys “got into his car with a little boy, onto the back seat, to see if his (the suspect’s) dog was in the boot”.

Meraud confirmed that a trace of her DNA had been found on the dashboard but that his client “completely denied” kidnapping her.

Meraud also suggested that someone who was in contact with the child could have “transferred” her DNA in to the vehicle.

The disappearance of the little girl has dominated French headlines over the past week with fears that she was kidnapped.