French pair held until trial after boys abandoned by road in Portugal
BBC • • world
Key Points:
- A French woman, Marine R, and her partner, Marc B, have been placed in pre-trial detention in Portugal after allegedly abandoning her two young boys, aged four and five, on a roadside near Alcacer do Sal.
- The boys were found crying beside the road on Tuesday evening, and the couple was arrested in Fatima on Thursday; they face charges including aggravated assault, endangerment, and abandonment.
- The children are currently with a French foster family in Lisbon and are expected to be returned to France, where they had been living with their mother in Colmar.
- The father, who had limited supervised visitation rights, reported the children missing on 11 May, leading to a European arrest warrant for the mother.
- According to a witness, one of the boys said they were blindfolded and told to find a hidden toy, but when they removed the blindfolds, their mother had disappeared.