During an unusual court hearing, a sexologist mother and her lover, who were accused of abandoning her two young sons in a Portuguese forest, burst into song and declarations of love.
Barthelemy and Zacharie, ages three and five, are allegedly left blindfolded during what has been called a perverse “treasure hunt” by Marine Rousseau, 41, and former police officer Marc Ballabriga, 55.
Before Rousseau and Ballabriga were located some 100 miles away at a cafe close to Lisbon on Tuesday, the youngsters were discovered sobbing and yelling by themselves on a rural road.
Portuguese police officers escorted the handcuffed French couple as they appeared in court on Friday.
Rousseau was heard singing like an opera singer during the hearing, and Ballabriga yelled, “I love you,” in French.
Who he was referring to was unclear.
The two are charged with child negligence, child abandonment, and domestic abuse.
On Saturday, a judge is anticipated to make a decision on their release on bond or continued detention.
On May 23, 2026, Frenchwoman Marine Rousseau (L), who is suspected of leaving two children, departs the Setubal courts in Setubal, Portugal.
On May 23, 2026, Frenchman Marc Ballabriga (C), who is suspected of leaving two children, departs the Setubal tribunal in Setubal, Portugal.
Before Rousseau and Ballabriga were located some 100 miles away at a cafe close to Lisbon on Tuesday, the youngsters were discovered sobbing and yelling by themselves on a lonely road.
It is also believed that the two are the subject of two European arrest orders that were issued by French officials.
They are also suspected of abandoning a 16-year-old son of Rousseau in France.
Following a manhunt prompted by the suspected abandonment of her two young boys approximately 1,500 miles from their home, film showed the dramatic moment police seized the mother.
Nearly 48 hours after the distressed children, ages three and five, were discovered sobbing and alone on a rural road nearly 125 miles away, Portuguese officers are seen on CCTV escorting the French couple to a waiting car after they were tracked down to a cafe terrace where they had been sunning themselves over snacks.
A video of the pair arriving in their French-plated Opel earlier in the day at the O Vasco cafe in the city of Fatima, 90 minutes north of Lisbon, was also released by Portuguese TV network SIC.
The additional pictures surfaced after Portuguese public service broadcaster RTP revealed that a French-speaking Portuguese police officer had overheard the couple plotting to “pretend they were crazy” if they were arrested.
The claimed chat between Marine and Marc in the car that drove them from Fatima to a police station in Palmela, 100 miles away, following their detention on Thursday, is reportedly already known to court officials.
The pair will learn later this morning if they are sent to prison owing to the allegations of child desertion and domestic abuse.
Since France had already proclaimed them fugitives prior to their detention on Thursday, a jail remand is almost probable, and even if they were granted bail for the alleged crimes they committed in Portugal, they would still be subject to re-arrest.
The two boys’ father reported them missing on May 11 when they disappeared from their house in Colmar, in northeastern France, close to the German border. The boys were allegedly abandoned between the villages of Alcacer do Sal and Comporta on Tuesday.
Portuguese police officers escorted the French couple, who were handcuffed, as they appeared in court on Friday.
A National Gendarmerie of Portugal (GNR) vehicle departing the Setubal courthouse with Marine Rousseau and Marc Ballabriga (not shown)
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Before setting out on a 1,365-mile journey with her two young sons and her boyfriend, Marine is believed to have left another 16-year-old child at home. As the search for them grew more intense, she drove across Spain and entered Portugal through the town of Miranda do Douro in the northeastern district of Braganca.
During their lengthy drive, the pair was captured on camera filling up their automobile at a gas station.
As the children were placed in temporary custody after being evaluated in the hospital, it was revealed yesterday that they had been arrested for enjoying croissants and lattes.
Ballabriga and their mother, who bills herself on social media as a “sexologist who helps traumatised individuals to regain serenity and sexual fulfilment,” are accused of blindfolding trusting children Barthelemy and Zacharie and telling them that they could only remove the covers if they discovered knives that the couple claimed to have hidden in the ground.
The couple allegedly drove away while the kids obeyed, leaving them to fend for themselves with just two bottles of water, two pieces of fruit, and a change of clothes.
Around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, a local bakery employee discovered the two brothers “crying and shouting” and called the police.
On Thursday afternoon, the arrests happened in the O Vasco cafe.
After the children were saved from their predicament, a French-speaking retiree who spoke to the runaway couple while they were enjoying some snacks called the police because she thought they might be the couple they were looking for.
Jorge Lopes, the proprietor of O Vasco, told Portuguese media that the couple had been on his cafe patio for more than five hours.
“They acted as if nothing had happened,” Mr. Lopes recalled, referring to the moment when five police officers approached them. “They stayed sitting and didn’t seem nervous.” Without any stress at all, they were handcuffed and searched.
“I was shocked to see them so relaxed in front of the authorities. It seemed like they had no blood in their veins.”
He claimed that Marine had requested his wife to charge her phone behind the bar after she had served them croissants and cafe lattes earlier in the day.
All they received was water, two pieces of fruit, and a change of clothes.
As the parents loaded the grey sedan, the boys could be seen scuttling around inside.
When Antonio came, a customer said that they were “chatting and laughing.” Another customer reported that the arrested man exclaimed, “Look at this,” as he sat down next to them. The sun is staring at me while I stand here in the sun.
“They arrived just after midday on Tuesday and were sat on the terrace for about two hours.” “The little ones were playing football and several times the ball went towards the street but neither adult got out of their chairs to stop it,” stated Teresa Pinto, a worker at the Rustikus restaurant in Alcacer do Sal, where Marine and Marc were with the two brothers just before they were allegedly abandoned.
Yesterday, Marine was heard singing as she was carried into court, and her companion, who was being hustled out of a police truck right in front of her, was yelling in French, “Je vous aime,” which is English for “I love you.”
After being placed under police custody, Ballabriga allegedly behaved violently, yelling at the policemen and attempting to damage his cell as his girlfriend sang for hours, according to sources.
The behavior “could be a joint strategy to escape the clutches of the law,” one person told Portuguese network SIC.
Following the couple’s detention, Carlos Canatario, a spokesman for GNR police, stated: “They’re not being hostile. They’re simply being silent and very reserved.”
“The Republican National Guard located and detained today, May 21, in Fatima, a 55-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman suspected of committing the crimes of domestic violence and exposure and abandonment, related to the incident involving two young children found alone near a public road in the municipality of Alcacer do Sal,” the Portuguese police force said in a statement confirming the arrests on Thursday.GNR police responded to the first alarm about two children being alone close to a public road right away. They found the kids and made sure they were secure and protected.
Yesterday, a Marine was spotted in a municipal police station, ostensibly handcuffed.
Officers from the Fatima Territorial Post located and detained the suspects in that city as a result of the investigative work and police pro-activity. “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.” The investigation was carried out immediately, in a coordinated manner, and based on information sharing among the various branches of the GNR’s entire police structure, with particular emphasis on the Criminal Investigation unit.
The Public Ministry of Portugal stated: “The two boys are in good health and were discharged from the hospital on Thursday. The provisional measure of foster family placement was judicially determined on May 20 at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and it is already in the implementation phase with the transfer of the minors to the foster family.”
“The oldest told me that he and his brother had got lost in the forest and that their father and mother had left without taking them,” said Alexandre Quintas, the guy who discovered the allegedly abandoned children sobbing and called the police.The backpacks and the way they had been made up immediately made it clear to me that they had been abandoned.
“They had a bottle of water, two pieces of fruit, a packet of biscuits, and a change of clothes.”
After completing a prison visit in Leiria, Portugal’s Justice Minister Rita Alarcao Judice stated on Thursday night: “The Directorate-General of Justice Administration (DGAJ) has been in contact with the French courts, coordinating and providing all the necessary information and obtaining the information the courts requested to allow this swift meeting to take place.”
We are currently awaiting the standard procedures for a potential return because, as far as I can tell, there has already been a request for the children’s return; therefore, it will be processed in the manner that these protocols naturally follow, even if I still don’t have much specific information.
“In order to lessen the suffering that these kids must have endured, I hope the procedure can now move forward as swiftly as possible.
