French police probe fake Disneyland ‘marriage’ with nine-year-old

Visitors wait to enter Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, east of Paris, Thursday, June 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Catherine Gaschka)

French police were on Sunday probing the circumstances of a bizarre stunt at Disneyland outside of Paris, with a group of adults suspected of hiring the theme park and paying hundreds of extras to stage a fake marriage for a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl.

Two people were held for questioning in the case, which initially caused alarm when staff alerted police on Saturday that it could have concerned an illegal child marriage.

But investigators now believe that the so-called “marriage” was staged, with the girl’s mother reportedly saying that she wanted her to feel like a Disney “princess” for the day.

“The event turned out to be a staged event, with the guests themselves extras” invited to be part of the stunt, deputy prosecutor Alexandre Verney said.

“So it wasn’t a wedding, but a staged wedding filmed with around a hundred extras. They hired Disneyland Paris, pretending it was a real wedding,” he told AFP.

Four people were arrested and taken into custody, and the questioning of two of them -- suspected of fraud and money laundering -- was extended on Saturday evening.

They are the so-called “groom” who is believed to be behind the event, 22 years old and “presumed to be British”, and a Latvian woman, 24, said a source close to the case.

However, the other two people detained -- a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman, and a 55-year-old Latvian man -- were released.

The investigations, including a medical examination of the nine-year-old girl, a Ukrainian national, found that “she had not been subjected to any violence or coercive acts,” the prosecutor’s office said.

According to the Le Parisien daily, which first reported the incident, a man had several weeks previously hired the Disneyland Paris complex for a sum of 130,000 euros (US$150,000) for several hours before it opened to the public.

Staff were astonished when the nine-year-old appeared wearing high heels on Saturday morning, barely able to stand in the elaborate footwear, and they alerted the authorities, it said.

The paper said the man who organised the event had submitted false documents concerning his identity and Disneyland filed a complaint.

Hundreds of extras were bussed in to play the part of the guests, it said, while the girl’s mother told investigators she wanted to organise a “day worthy of a princess” for her daughter.