A French woman has been arrested in Portugal on allegations of abandoning her two young children in a forest. The woman, Marine Rousseau, 41, was apprehended alongside her former law enforcement partner, Marc Ballabriga, 55, while they were dining at a café near Lisbon.
Authorities detained Rousseau and Ballabriga on Thursday, just two days after they allegedly left Rousseau’s 3- and 5-year-old children stranded in a remote wooded area. The incident has drawn significant attention from both Portuguese and French media outlets.
“They were just sitting there and didn’t appear nervous,” said Jorge Lopes, the café owner who witnessed the arrest. “They were searched and handcuffed without showing any signs of stress. I was shocked by how calm they seemed in front of the authorities, as if they were completely unfazed.”
The young boys were discovered alone and distressed, crying in the forest approximately 125 miles away from Lisbon, according to a report by MetroUK.
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Marine-Rousseau and her boyfriend, Marc Ballabriga, were arrested after allegedly leaving her two young sons blindfolded in the woods alone in Portugal. (Getty Images)
“Given the situation of evident vulnerability, the children were taken to the home of a local resident, where they remained and received initial care in the presence of the officers until they were transferred to a hospital unit,” Portuguese authorities said in a statement.
The two boys were in good health and were discharged from hospital on Thursday,” Portugal’s Public Ministry said.
The couple face child endangerment and abandonment charges. Ballabriga — a former French policeman who quit the force in 2010 — faces an additional aggravated assault charge.
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Marine-Rousseau allegedly left her two young sons alone in a Portuguese forest while blindfolded in Portugal, authorities said. (Getty Images)
They were ordered held pending trial.
Rousseau’s sons were rescued by Artur Quintas, a local baker who spotted them “screaming and crying” while frantically stumbling along a main road on May 19, the New York Post reported.
They were carrying backpacks stuffed only with clothes, water and snacks.
Quintas recalled the older brother telling him that their mother and her boyfriend allegedly took them into the forest and covered their eyes as part of a “game.” When they removed their blindfolds, both adults had vanished.
Marine Rousseau is charged with child endangerment. (Getty Images)
The pair have since been placed in temporary foster care.
Their biological father — who reported them missing on May 11 — is working to bring them back to France.
“It’s only a matter of days before I get my children back,” he told French broadcaster Ici Alsace TV on Monday. “I think about them every second since the Colmar police station contacted me to tell me they were missing. My children will have to rebuild their lives, just as I rebuilt mine.
“And they don’t need to be constantly reminded of this tragedy.”
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