Mother Allegedly Abandons 2 Children in Forest, Arrested Days Later While Sitting Calmly at Cafe

A French mother accused of blindfolding and abandoning her two children in a Portuguese forest has been arrested while she was casually eating pastries at a cafe, according to The New York Post.

Marine Rousseau, a French mother of two, was arrested on May 21. Rousseau and her ex-cop boyfriend, Marc Ballabriga, were at a cafe in Fatima, Portugal, two days after the couple allegedly abandoned her 3- and 5-year-old children in a remote forest and left, according to Portuguese and French media.

“They acted as if nothing had happened,” cafe owner Jorge Lopes told MetroUK, describing how the couple sat calmly basking on the terrace for hours before police arrived and arrested them.

“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 added.

The pair appeared in court on May 23, as Rousseau sang to herself while Ballabriga, 55, screamed “I love you” in French as he was taken into a pre-trial detention hearing.

Rousseau remained silent in court, refusing to explain why she allegedly ditched her children in the woods after luring them into a fake treasure hunt and blindfolding them thousands of miles from their home in northeastern France, according to SIC Noticias.

The couple, who have no connection to Portugal, were slapped with child endangerment and abandonment. At the same time, Ballabriga, a former French police officer who left the force in 2010, was also charged with aggravated assault.

A judge ordered them held without bail pending trial, with Rousseau sent to Tires Prison, a women’s facility west of Lisbon. She describes herself on LinkedIn as a sexologist specializing in “body-oriented practice, psychotrauma and developmental dynamic.”

Artur Quintas, a local baker, rescued Rousseau’s sons after spotting them “screaming and crying” while walking along a main road in Monte Novo do Sul, Portugal, on May 19. The boys were carrying backpacks with clothes, water and snacks.

Quintas said one of the children told him their mother and her boyfriend led them into the forest and covered their eyes as part of a game, but when they removed their blindfolds, she was gone.

The children have since been placed in temporary foster care. Their biological father, who reported them missing on May 11, is working to bring them back to France.