A sexologist mother and her partner have been arrested after allegedly abandoning her two young boys nearly 1,500 miles from their home in France. CCTV footage shows Portuguese officers escorting the French couple, Marine Rousseau, 41, and former police officer Marc Ballabriga, 55, to a waiting car after they were tracked down to a cafe terrace in Fatima.
Two days earlier, Marine's two young children, Barthelemy, five, and Zacharie, three, were found crying and alone 125 miles away in a rural woodland area. Portuguese TV broadcaster SIC obtained footage showing the couple arriving at O Vasco cafe in Fatima, a 90-minute drive north of Lisbon, in their French-plated Opel earlier that day.
According to Portuguese public service broadcaster RTP, the couple were overheard by a French-speaking Portuguese police officer hatching a plan to 'pretend they were crazy' after being taken into custody. Court officials have reportedly been made aware of the conversation Marine and Marc allegedly had in the car that transported them from Fatima to a police station in Palmela, 100 miles away, following their arrests on Thursday.
The couple are due to learn later this morning whether they will be remanded to prison on charges of domestic violence and child abandonment. The father of the two boys had reported them missing on May 11 after they vanished from their home in Colmar, northeastern France, near the German border.
Marine, who is understood to have left another 16-year-old child at home before embarking on a 1,365-mile journey with her two young sons and her boyfriend, drove across Spain while the search for them intensified. She then entered Portugal via the town of Miranda do Douro in the northeastern district of Braganca. The couple were filmed during their journey filling up their car with fuel at a petrol station.
They were arrested after enjoying lattes and pastries, while the children were placed into temporary care after being seen in hospital. Ballabriga and Marine, who on social media describes herself as a 'sexologist who helps traumatised individuals to regain serenity and sexual fulfilment,' are said to have blindfolded the two boys. They told them they could only remove the covers once they had found knives the couple claimed to have buried in the dirt. While the children obeyed, the couple reportedly drove off, leaving them with a change of clothes, two pieces of fruit, and two bottles of water.
A local bakery worker found the two brothers 'crying and shouting' and alerted police around 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The arrests took place at O Vasco cafe on Thursday afternoon. A French-speaking pensioner who spoke to the fugitive couple as they relaxed over snacks called police because she suspected they might be the pair authorities were hunting after the youngsters were rescued.
O Vasco owner Jorge Lopes said the couple had been enjoying pastries hours before their arrest and seemed unbothered when police arrived. 'They acted as if nothing had happened. They stayed sitting and didn't seem nervous. They were searched and handcuffed without any stress at all. When I saw them so at ease in front of the authorities, I was astonished. It was as if they didn't have blood running through their veins,' Lopes said.
A customer named Antonio said they were 'chatting and laughing' when he arrived, with another client stating the arrested man told him as he sat down next to them, 'Look at this. I'm here in the sun and the sun is looking at me.' Teresa Pinto, a worker at a restaurant called Rustikus in Alcacer do Sal where Marine and Marc were with the two brothers shortly before they were allegedly abandoned, said, 'They arrived just after midday on Tuesday and were sat on the terrace for about two hours. The little ones were playing football and several times the ball went towards the street but neither adult got out of their chairs to stop it.'
Marine was overheard singing as she was escorted into court yesterday, and her partner repeatedly shouted in French, 'Je vous aime' (I love you) as he was bundled out of a police van just in front of her. Sources said Ballabriga had acted violently after being taken into custody, shouting at officers and trying to damage his cell, while his girlfriend spent hours singing. One source told Portuguese broadcaster SIC that the behaviour 'could be a joint strategy to escape the clutches of the law.'
GNR police spokesman Carlos Canatario said after the arrests, 'They're not being hostile. They're simply being silent and very reserved.' Confirming the arrests on Thursday, the Portuguese police force stated, 'The Republican National Guard located and detained today, May 21, in Fatima, a 55-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman suspected of committing the crimes of domestic violence and exposure and abandonment, related to the incident involving two young children found alone near a public road in the municipality of Alcacer do Sal. Given the situation of evident vulnerability, the children were taken to the home of a local resident, where they remained and received initial care in the presence of the officers until they were transferred to a hospital unit.' Portugal's Public Ministry said, 'The two boys are in good health and were discharged from hospital on Thursday.'
