French mother and ex-police boyfriend accused of blindfolding, leaving young sons in remote forest as “game”: reports

(SeaPRwire) –   A French woman accused of leaving her two young sons blindfolded in a remote forest in Portugal was arrested alongside her former law enforcement boyfriend while dining at a café near Lisbon.

Marine Rousseau, 41, and Marc Ballabriga, 55, were taken into custody on Thursday, two days after allegedly abandoning her 3- and 5-year-old children in the woods before departing the scene, according to reports from Portuguese and French media.

“They remained seated and appeared calm,” said café owner Jorge Lopes. “They were searched and handcuffed without showing any signs of distress. I was shocked to see them so composed in front of the authorities—it was as if they had no blood in their veins.”

The boys were discovered alone and crying 125 miles away, as reported by MetroUK.

“Due to their clear vulnerability, the children were brought to a local resident’s home, where they stayed and received initial care in the presence of officers until they were transferred to a hospital,” Portuguese authorities stated.

Portugal’s Public Ministry confirmed that the two boys were in good health and released from the hospital on Thursday.

The couple face charges of child endangerment and abandonment. Ballabriga, a former French police officer who left the force in 2010, is also charged with aggravated assault.

They have been ordered held without bail pending trial.

The children were rescued by Artur Quintas, a local baker who found them “screaming and crying” as they stumbled along a main road on May 19, according to the New York Post.

They were carrying backpacks containing only clothes, water, and snacks.

Quintas recounted that the older boy told him their mother and her boyfriend had taken them into the forest, blindfolded them as part of a “game,” and then disappeared once the blindfolds were removed.

The two boys have since been placed in temporary foster care.

Their biological father, who reported them missing on May 11, is working to have them returned 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 informed me they were missing. My children will have to rebuild their lives, just as I rebuilt mine.

“And they shouldn’t have to be constantly reminded of this tragedy.”