Abandoned toddlers Authorities take French couple into custody
Left blindfolded in the middle of the forest: What two young boys say about their mother's alleged "game" is harrowing - and raises questions about the lives of a couple who appeared completely unremarkable to the outside world.
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- A French woman and her partner have been remanded in custody in Portugal after allegedly abandoning their four and five-year-old sons alone in a forest.
- The children were found crying on a road near Comporta and reported that their mother had blindfolded them "for a game" and then left them behind.
- While the two are accused of endangering the children, the 55-year-old former police officer is also suspected of physically abusing one of the children.
In the sensational case of two young children abandoned in Portugal, their mother and her partner have been remanded in custody. In a statement issued by the court in Setúbal, south of Lisbon, on Saturday, the two were accused of abandoning and endangering the two children. The couple from France, a 41-year-old woman and her 55-year-old boyfriend, were arrested on Thursday.
They are accused of leaving the boys, aged four and five, alone in a forest. According to the court, the 55-year-old is also accused of "dangerous bodily harm" to one of the children. The two Frenchmen had already been questioned for several hours in Setúbal on Friday.
The mother, Marine R. from Colmar, describes herself in online services as a "sexologist" who specializes in "body practices and specific trauma treatment". According to the mayor of the town, she worked in a clinic. There had been no evidence of problems with her children. Her boyfriend Marc B. is a former police officer who quit his job in 2010. He spread conspiracy stories and anti-Semitic writings on the internet.
Father had reported mother and children missing
A driver discovered the two crying children on the side of a road near the village of Comporta on Tuesday evening. They had backpacks with water, cookies and clothes, but no identification papers. They reported that their mother had taken them to a forest and blindfolded them "for a game". When the children took off their blindfolds, their mother had disappeared.
The Portuguese authorities arrested the mother and her partner on Thursday in Fátima in the center of Portugal. A police spokesman said that the two had shown a "very detached attitude to the situation".
The children were placed with a foster family and, according to French media, were to be picked up by their father, who, according to the Portuguese authorities in France, had "limited visitation rights under supervision" with regard to his children. The father had reported the mother and children missing on May 11.