Parents who abandoned boys ‘blindfolded’ in woods had chilling plan before arrest
The couple accused of blindfolding and abandoning two young boys in a forest in Portugal were reportedly overheard concocting a plan about how to handle their arrests.
Police took Marine Rousseau, 41, and her partner and the boys' stepfather, Marc Ballabriga, 55, into custody last Thursday (21 May), two days after her two sons were found 'screaming and crying' on a rural road.
Officers found them in a cafe in Fátima, near the capital of Lisbon, and led them away in handcuffs. The duo are facing charges of child abandonment and child endangerment. Ballabriga is facing an additional charge of aggravated assault.
Rousseau and Ballabriga are accused of leading her sons, aged four and five, into woodland before blindfolding them and pretending they were 'playing a game'.
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It is alleged that they then fled the area, leaving the youngsters wandering aimlessly before local Alexandre Quintas spotted them on an isolated road which links Alcácer do Sal and the coastal resort of Comporta.
The baker has since spoken out about how he has struggled to comprehend what led to the French couple allegedly committing what he dubbed an 'act of madness'.
"I hope she stays in prison for many years," he said, as per Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã, before speaking of his aspirations for the young boys.
"I hope to see them again," Quintas said. "If I lose all information about them, I will look for them." Quintas said that he hopes they end up in the care of a relative who 'can give them love'.
He explained he forged a particularly 'strong bond' with the eldest boy, who he described as a 'hero' for 'keeping his younger brother safe and having the initiative to seek help'.
Rousseau and Ballabriga had their first court appearance on Friday (23 May) and appeared before a criminal investigating judge in Setúbal - and both of them made bizarre outbursts.
It was reported that the mum began opera singing once inside, while her partner yelled out in French, 'I love you'.
Ballabriga is also said to have shouted 'Portugal Armageddon' as he was led out of the courthouse into a police van.
According to Portuguese public service broadcaster RTP, this was apparently an attempted bid at making themselves appear as though 'they were crazy'.
The outlet reported that a French-speaking Portuguese police officer overheard a conversation that took place between Rousseau and Ballabriga while in a car en route to the police station.
It is alleged that they made a pact to 'pretend they were crazy' in the wake of their arrests, Metro reported.
A judge ordered that the pair remain in pre-trial detention
A spokesperson for the GNR (Portugal's National Republican Guard), Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Canatário, previously shared some details about taking the couple into custody.
He said the accused pair had spent hours 'relaxing' on a terrace at a cafe in Fátima and appeared to be 'perfectly normal' - but said they roused suspicions of an onlooker, who tipped off police.
"It was precisely because they had been on the same terrace for so long that a neighbour alerted the authorities," the GNR spokesman told Jornal da Noite.
"She found it strange that they had been there for so many hours and contacted the GNR station in Fátima. She heard them speaking French, connected the dots with the news, and did very well to call the police station."
According to the owner of the cafe where they were apprehended, Jorge Lopes, the suspects appeared unbothered.
"They acted as if nothing had happened," he told local media. "They stayed sitting and didn’t seem nervous. They were searched and handcuffed without any stress at all.
"When I saw them so at ease in front of the authorities, I was astonished. It was as if they didn’t have blood running through their veins."
Rousseau's two sons 'are in good health' despite their ordeal, the Portugal’s Public Ministry said.
Topics: Europe, World News, Crime
Olivia Burke