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World|life|January 19, 2018 / 02:02 PM
California couple deny torturing 'shackled siblings'
Image: BBC

AKIPRESS.COM - The parents accused of holding their 13 children in shackles at a California home have pleaded not guilty.

David Turpin, 56, and Louise Turpin, 49, are facing charges of torture, abuse and false imprisonment.

They were arrested after one daughter escaped from their home, where police later found some siblings chained to beds and severely malnourished, BBC reported.

The couple appeared in court hours after prosecutors detailed the horrific abuse allegations against them.

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said the couple had allegedly punished their children by tying them up - first using ropes and later chaining them to their beds with padlocks.

He said the alleged punishments would last weeks or months, and intensified over time.

Prosecutors said circumstantial evidence showed the children were not released from their chains to go to the toilet.

The teenager who escaped and alerted police to the house where her siblings were held captive had been hatching a plan to leave for two years, Mr Hestrin added.

He detailed some of the gruesome allegations against the parents at a news conference on Thursday.

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