In an unusual turn of events, a sexologist mother and her partner made headlines for allegedly abandoning their two young children in a forest in Portugal, nearly 1,500 miles away from their residence. The incident took a bizarre twist when the mother, Marine Rousseau, 41, sang opera in court while her partner, Marc Ballabriga, 55, shouted “I love you.”
The French couple, residents of Colmar, were located at a café near Lisbon, Portugal, around 48 hours after the children were reportedly left alone in the woods. The children, aged three and five, were found crying on a rural road approximately 125 miles away from where Rousseau and Ballabriga were discovered.
According to police reports, the parents allegedly blindfolded the children during a supposed hunting game in the forest before abandoning them between the towns of Alcacer do Sal and Comporta on a Tuesday.
Following their arrest, Rousseau and Ballabriga, who is the stepfather of the children, were taken into custody and brought to a police station in Palmela, located 100 miles away. They appeared in court on Friday, with Rousseau singing as she entered the courthouse, while her partner, in French, expressed his love for her.
Sources revealed that Ballabriga exhibited aggressive behavior upon being detained, shouting at officers and causing a disturbance in his cell, while Rousseau spent hours singing. The couple is now facing charges of domestic violence and child abandonment, with a judicial decision on potential remand to prison expected on Saturday.
Prior to their arrest, Rousseau and Ballabriga were already wanted as fugitives in France. The father of the two boys had reported them missing on May 11 from their home in Colmar. Additionally, it is suspected that Rousseau left behind her 16-year-old child in France before embarking on the journey to Portugal, as surveillance footage captured them refueling their car at a petrol station during their travels.