French Couple Held in Portugal Over Alleged Roadside Abandonment of Two Boys

SETUBAL, Portugal (AFP) — A Portuguese court on Saturday ordered a French woman and her partner held behind bars while they await further proceedings over allegations that her two sons, ages four and five, were left beside a road in the country’s south.

Following a hearing that lasted two days, the court in the southern port city of Setubal placed the 41-year-old mother and the 55-year-old man in pretrial custody on accusations of child endangerment and abandonment. After the pair were questioned, the court said the man was also accused of aggravated assault involving one of the boys.

Police later removed the couple in a van that exited straight from the courthouse garage.

The matter has attracted major public interest in both Portugal and France since Tuesday evening, when the two children were discovered crying near a road close to Alcacer do Sal, roughly 100 kilometres, or 60 miles, south of Lisbon. Portuguese media reported that the boys had backpacks with food and water, but no documents showing who they were.

Portuguese authorities detained the couple on Thursday at a cafe in the central town of Fatima. They were then taken to the court in Setubal, where an investigating judge began hearing the case on Friday.

“After something like this, abandoning two young children, finding this couple relaxed at an outdoor cafe for hours was quite shocking,” Carlos Canatario, a spokesman for Portugal’s GNR police force, told SIC television.

“Their behaviour suggested a certain detachment from the situation, because they did not respond much. They appeared very withdrawn and therefore did not react.”

The couple spent several hours being questioned during the first court session on Friday. When they arrived, the man, named by authorities as Marc B., twice called out “I love you” in French, while the boys’ mother, identified as Marine R., hummed a tune.

Just after midnight on Friday, as Marc B. was being driven away from the courthouse in a police van, he shouted “Portugal Armageddon” at reporters outside.

By Saturday morning, officers kept the two suspects inside the transport vehicle until it had gone fully into the courthouse garage and the doors were shut.

The boys are now staying with a French foster family in Lisbon while arrangements are pending for their return to France.

According to Portuguese authorities, the brothers had been living in Colmar, eastern France, with their mother. Their father was allowed only limited visits under supervision.

French officials had been looking for the mother and the children since May 11, after the boys’ father reported them missing. France later issued a European arrest warrant.

Eugenia Quintas, the mother of the driver who came across the children, told AFP that one boy said they had been blindfolded and instructed to search for a hidden toy. After removing the blindfolds, they found that their mother and her car were no longer there.

“On them they had an orange, a pear and a bottle of water each. We didn’t see any signs of mistreatment,” Quintas said.

Authorities said the couple did not appear to have any known ties to Portugal.

Public attention has also focused on the backgrounds of both suspects. On social media, the woman presented herself as a sexologist focused on body practices, developmental dynamics and trauma care.

French media have reported that her partner is a former member of the French gendarmerie who left the service in 2010 and has posted conspiracy-related and antisemitic material online.

The case follows another prominent Portuguese investigation involving a French citizen only months earlier. Cedric Prizzon, a French man, is accused by authorities of killing his current partner and former partner in northern Portugal before fleeing with the children he had with both women.

Portugal has rejected France’s extradition request for Prizzon, with authorities saying the alleged offences took place on Portuguese soil.