PARIS – A French woman and her partner will remain in custody after allegedly abandoning her two young boys on a roadside in the south of Portugal, a court has ruled.
The boys were found on Tuesday evening crying beside a road near Alcacer do Sal, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Lisbon. The woman and her partner, identified by authorities as Marine R and Marc B, were arrested in Fatima on Thursday.
As they were being led into court on Saturday morning, the man shouted "I love you" in French and the boys' mother sang. A judge subsequently ordered the pair be placed in pre-trial detention, French and Portuguese media report. They are accused of aggravated assault, endangerment and abandonment of the boys.
In Portugal, suspects must be brought before a judge within 48 hours of their arrest to decide whether they remain in custody or are released ahead of their trial. The couple have already been questioned by investigators for several hours. Meanwhile, the children, who are aged four and five, are with a French foster family in Lisbon and are expected to return to France.
Authorities told the Setubal courthouse that the two boys had been living with their 41-year-old mother in the eastern French city of Colmar, while their father had limited and supervised visitation rights, local media report. On 11 May, the father reported them missing, prompting authorities to begin searching for the mother and children, and a European arrest warrant was issued.
The mother of the motorist who found the children told Portuguese media that one of the boys had said they were blindfolded and told to look for a hidden toy, but that when they took their blindfolds off their mother had vanished. Authorities said the couple appeared to have no known connection to Portugal.
The couple's backgrounds have gained attention in both France and Portugal. The woman's LinkedIn profile describes herself as a sexologist specialising in "body-oriented practices, psychotrauma and developmental dynamics".
The woman's partner, aged 55, is a former French gendarmerie officer who left the force in 2010. Local newspaper Correio da Manhã reported the couple could be heard in their separate cells "shouting at each other". (BBC)
