Nine-year-old locked in bedroom for three-years, say US police

POLICE in the US say a nine-year-old Florida boy was locked in his bedroom for almost three years.

He did not attend school, had no friends, and was watched by his father on surveillance cameras that tracked his every move, Jacksonville police said.

His father claimed the strict living conditions were for his son’s best interest, said police, who took the 41-year-old man to jail on charges of malicious punishment and child abuse.

The home had cameras in almost every room, with the father monitoring the boy on television and computer screens, said sheriff’s Lt Annie Smith.

Smith said it appears the boy did not receive medical attention for several years and may have been cut off from human contact, except for that with his family.

Now, investigators are trying to determine why the boy was kept in such conditions for so long, never learning to read books, and, according to relatives, usually allowed to use the bathroom only once a day.

Randall Piercy, 41, was jailed on $1 million (€800,000) bail.

The child’s mother, Michelle Piercy, who was not immediately charged, told WTLV-TV that her son was not abused and that the cameras allowed her and her husband to make sure he did not hurt himself.

“We are very protective,” she said.