A man charged with kidnapping a nine-year-old French girl during a wedding in the Alps has admitted to police that she got into his car but he denies abducting her, his lawyer has said. A week after Maëlys 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 Maëlys was attending with her parents when she went missing in the early hours of 27 August. 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, said his client told police that Maëlys “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 a trace of her DNA had been found on the dashboard but that his client “completely denied” kidnapping her. Meraud said several DNA traces, including that of his client, had been found on the dashboard and that someone who was in contact with the child could have “transferred” her DNA into the vehicle.(theguardian)…[+]