Portuguese Police Detain Couple for Allegedly Abandoning Blindfolded Young Boys

A couple has been taken into custody in Portugal, facing allegations of child abuse and domestic violence, following the discovery of two young brothers, aged five and three, abandoned in a wooded area. The children were reportedly found crying and calling for their father on a secluded rural path situated between the coastal towns of Alcácer do Sal and Comporta.

According to statements from Portuguese police, the boys recounted that their 41-year-old mother, Marine Rousseau, and her 55-year-old stepfather, Marc Ballabriga, had driven them into the forest. There, they were told they would play a game to “drive away the devil.” The children further explained that the couple blindfolded them and instructed them not to remove the blindfolds until they had located a knife supposedly buried in the ground. Police noted that the elder child attempted to dig through the soil before eventually taking off both blindfolds, only to realize they had been left alone in the woods.

The arrests occurred on Wednesday, May 20, after authorities successfully located the couple’s vehicle, which bore French registration plates, parked near a local café. CNN Portugal reported that Rousseau and Ballabriga had spent “several hours” inside the café before officers arrived. Officials stated that the couple maintained their silence when confronted by the police.

The children’s discovery was made shortly before sunset on Tuesday by Artur Quintas, a local baker, and his wife, as they were driving along the isolated route. Quintas shared with the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã, “They were crying, they were terrified. They were crying and calling for their father.” He added, “The oldest one told me that he and his brother had gotten lost in the forest and that their father and mother had left without taking them. I saw that they were each carrying a backpack. I immediately realised they had been abandoned.”

Police observed that the boys’ hands were covered in dirt, and one of them had sustained a knee injury. Their backpacks contained only a change of clothes, an apple, an orange, and two bottles of water. Investigators believe the children had been residing in Colmar, eastern France, before their mother reportedly vanished with them approximately two weeks prior and traveled to Portugal. It later emerged that the boys’ biological father, who is separated from Rousseau, had already filed a child abduction report with French police. Colmar prosecutor Jean Richert expressed his bewilderment to Le Parisien, stating, “He’s like everyone else, he doesn’t understand.”