CHILLING CCTV footage shows a sexologist mum and stepdad accused of abandoning their two young boys in a Portuguese forest on their 1,200 mile journey.
Marine Rousseau, 41, and stepdad Marc Ballabriga, 55, allegedly ditched Barthelemy and Zacharie, aged five and three respectively, in the woods under the guise of a treasure hunt.
Sign up for The Jattvibe newsletter
Thank you!
CCTV footage shows a French couple suspected of abandoning their children in Portugal Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
One of the boys can be seen clambering between the seats Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
Sexologist Marine Rousseau, 41, has been accused of abandoning her children Credit: Facebook
Two French boys aged 3 and 5, who were found in a Portuguese forest, 1,200 miles away from home Credit: Newsflash
The children were later found crying and screaming on a rural road in Portugal on Tuesday evening, before the parents were caught over 100 miles to the north.
Now, new CCTV footage shows the children innocently playing around in their parents’ car at a petrol station in Miranda do Douro, near the Spanish border.
Ballabriga appears to pull into the petrol station driving a grey car.
Both he and Rousseau, from Colmar in eastern France, exit the vehicle before walking to an attendant.
UP IN FLAMES
Moment woman’s power bank bursts into flames in bag as she’s trapped in lift
HOLIDAY HELL
Man arrested after ‘kissing Brit boy, 4, in swimming pool’ at Magaluf hotel
The boys can be seen clambering around the car, with one squeezing through the driver and passenger seats.
The footage was captured at 6:16 p.m. on May 11 – the same day the family arrived in Portugal – according to Portuguese broadcaster TVI.
The parents were caught yesterday after knocking back lattes and enjoying pastries while soaking up the sun on a café terrace
A French-speaking pensioner who chatted to them called police after becoming suspicious that they were the duo cops were hunting down after the boys discovery.
Rousseau was reportedly rumbled after visiting a local cafe Credit: Facebook
The items the boys were found with Credit: Newsflash
The children with a local police officer Credit: Newsflash
The parents are believed to have told the children that they were playing a game called “drive away the devil”.
They told the boys they could only remove the blindfolds once they had found knives the couple claimed to have buried in the dirt.
While the children obeyed, the couple reportedly made a dash for it and left them to their fate with nothing more than a change of clothes, two pieces of fruit and two bottles of water on them.
Alexandre Quintas, who found the children some 1,200 miles away from their home, said they were crying and shouting between the towns of Alcacer do Sal and Comporta, a 90-minute drive south from Lisbon.
The local bakery worker alerted cops at around 7pm on Tuesday.
He said: “I realised straight away that they had been abandoned because of the backpacks, the way they had been made up.”
The children had no form of identification on them when they were discovered.
Their mum, who on social media describes herself as a “sexologist who helps traumatised individuals to regain serenity and sexual fulfilment”, and her new partner were cuffed around 3.30pm yesterday.
They were picked up at O Vasco cafe in Fatima, nearly 125 miles from where the two boys had been left nearly 48 hours earlier.
New details of their arrests, confirmed by Portuguese cops yesterday, emerged overnight as Marine and Marc were hauled to court following a night in a police cell.
The boys had been taken to the woods under the guise of a ‘treasure hunt’ Credit: CEN
The rural road near Alcacer do Sal where they were found Credit: Newsflash
The children’s father had reported them missing on May 11 after they vanished from their home in Colmar in northeastern France near the border with Germany.
Marine, who is understood to have left another 16-year-old child at home before embarking on a 1,365-mile journey with the two young boys and her boyfriend, drove across Spain.
The hunt for the family intensified before they entered Portugal via the town of Miranda do Douro in the northeastern district of Braganca.
The couple go before a judge today after being accused of crimes including domestic violence and child abandonment.
But they will face probable extradition to France before being prosecuted in Portugal because of the European Arrest Warrants issued by their home country.
Today a Portuguese woman aged around 80 said to have spent most of her working life in France emerged as one of the heroes in the sickening story.
O Vasco owner Jorge Lopes told Portuguese press the couple had spent more than five hours on his cafe terrace and the unnamed pensioner called cops.
She suspected they could be the pair who had allegedly abandoned the two brothers after asking them where they were from and getting the response: “We live in the world.”
Speaking of the moment when five police officers arrived and went up to them, Mr Lopes said: “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.”
He said his wife had served them pastries and cafe lattes earlier in the day and Marine had asked her to charge her phone behind the bar.
A customer called Antonio said they were “chatting and laughing” when he arrived.
Teresa Pinto, a worker at the restaurant where Marine and Marc were with the two brothers shortly before they were allegedly abandoned, said they arrived after midday Tuesday and sat on the terrace for about two hours.
She added: “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.”
The couple’s French-plated green Opel was taken away by police after they were held.
They have been described as “not very co-operative” since their arrests.GNR police spokesman Carlos Canatario told Portuguese TV broadcaster SIC: “They’re not being hostile.
“They’re simply being silent and very reserved.”
Police confirmed the arrests yesterday and Portugal’s Public Ministry the boys have since been placed into foster care.
It added: “The two boys are in good health and were discharged from hospital on Thursday.”
