The two children did not attend school and had to stand guard around the house where they lived at night
1-MIN READ1-MIN ListendpaPublished: 9:12pm, 2 Apr 2026The suspected leader of an isolated forest community on the Mediterranean island of Sicily has been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting child abuse, Italian news agencies ANSA and Adnkronos reported on Thursday.
The suspect is a man of German-Indian origin. He is said to have led a community of 15 people, including two children, who lived in a forest near Cefalu on Sicily’s northern coast.
The two children, aged 7 and 11, were reportedly not vaccinated, did not attend school and had to stand guard around the house where they lived at night.
Media reports said they lived in the house in precarious hygienic conditions and without electricity.
Adnkronos quoted the public prosecutor’s office as saying the environment was “characterised by forms of isolation and psychological conditioning”.
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Philippine pastor arrested on sex trafficking charges after two-week stand-offThe German-Indian man reportedly presented himself as the community’s spiritual teacher. The group consisted of Germans, Britons and an Italian woman. He is said to have arrived in Sicily nearly 10 years ago and held several spiritual meetings there. Media described him as a “guru”.
