The thugs rang the youngster's mother demanding a €12,000 ransom for the safe return of her son. The figure was later reduced to €4,000, but when it was not paid, the gang battered Darius before dumping him in a shopping trolley before leaving it on the roadside. Continue...
Police confirmed that Darius was set upon on Friday night by a ‘dozen masked men on waste ground around Pierrefitte,’ according to a police source.
The boy's mother has told detectives that she received a call from the vigilantes on his abandoned mobile phone.
The shocking photographs first appeared on The Telegraph.
They were first alleged to have asked for around £12,000 before reducing the demand to around £4,000, saying he would be hurt if the ransom was not met.
Nothing was paid in the end, and Darius was left in the trolley close to the illegal Roma camp in the northern suburb of Pierrefitte where he lived, according to local prosecutor Sylvie Moisson.
Ms Moisson said Darius was held in a basement by men wearing masks and carrying weapons after he was linked to a burglary.
Calling the attack 'an act of barbarism', she said the burglar's description fitted that of Darius, who was 'quickly hunted, kidnapped, held, beaten and left to die.'
It was his mother who reported the attack, and the victim was found shortly after 11pm on Friday.
A spokesman for the Lariboisiere hospital in Paris said Darius was still in a 'chemically induced coma' because of the pain he was experiencing.
Culled from UK Daily Mail
