Parents Sentenced for Keeping their Children Locked up Inside the House in Fear of Covid-19

A couple who kept their children locked inside the house for three and a half years have been sentenced to prison for two years and ten months each. The officials have described the house as a “house of horror” where the three children were kept locked in. The parents claimed they were protecting the children from COVID-19.

A couple was sentenced to two years and ten months on May 11th by the Provincial Court of Asturias, according to El País. The couple has been identified as 54-year-old Christian Steffen and 49-year-old Ann Steffen, who have been keeping their three children locked up since the last wave of COVID-19. They told the authorities that they were trying to protect their children from the pandemic.

The parents have been charged with domestic violence with habitual psychological abuse, child abandonment, and illegal detention. They were sentenced to two years and four months for a domestic violence offense and four months for child abandonment, but were also acquitted of an illegal detention charge, according to the reports of the newspaper.

According to El País reports, the prosecutors had requested a sentence of 25 years for each parent for all three original crimes. Earlier, however, the defense had argued in court that there was no illegal detention but voluntary isolation due to the “fear” the parents felt after they contracted COVID-19, according to the media reports.

The authorities in April 2025 had rescued three children from Oviedo, Spain, and confirmed rescuing three children, one of whom was 10 years old and a twin of 8 years old. They were rescued from a home in the area after they were locked up for three and a half years following the final wave of COVID-19.

Since the authorities rescued the children, they reportedly had motor difficulties and health issues, were sleeping in cribs, and were wearing diapers. The children are currently in the protection of the child protective services and are receiving treatment from psychologists, according to the reports of El País.

The court has prevented both parents from exercising their parental rights over their children for 3 years and 4 months, and they are barred from communicating with the children and have been ordered to pay $ 35,000.

The authorities began an investigation into the family after one of the neighbors filed a complaint on April 14th of last year about the children not attending school. Although nothing drew attention at first, the officers witnessed that Christian was only leaving the home to collect mail and receive grocery deliveries. The neighbors told the police that they hadn’t seen the family leave the home since December 2021.