Sexologist mother and stepfather sunned themselves on café terrace after abandoning their children aged five and four in Portuguese woods - as CCTV shows couple on way to dump the boys

By PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER and SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 23:07, 22 May 2026 | Updated: 23:19, 22 May 2026 A sexologist mother and her partner, accused of abandoning her two young sons in the Portuguese woods, were caught sunning themselves just hours after taking off without the children.  The French mother, 41-year-old Marine R, and stepfather Marc B, 55, were both arrested yesterday for allegedly dumping the schoolboys, aged five and four, hundreds of miles from where they grew up.  The brothers were found wandering down a rural road between the Portuguese towns of Alcacer do Sal and Comporta on Tuesday evening. The parents were arrested in the city of Fatima, 124 miles north of Alcacer do Sal.  The brothers told the local couple that found them that their parents had abandoned them, blindfolded, with nothing more than a change of clothes, two pieces of fruit and two bottles of water. Marine, a French sexologist, and her partner Ballabriga were tracked down by police more than 100 miles away in a cafe south of Lisbon, where they were found enjoying snacks on a sunny terrace. The pair were located after a woman who spoke to them called the police after becoming suspicious they were the couple police were looking for following news that two boys had been abandoned.  According to cafe owner Jorge Lopes, who spoke to Portuguese daily Correio da Manha, the couple who 'only spoke French' spent 'more than five hours' on the establishment's terrace, eating cakes and drinking coffees. New footage obtained by local media showed the boys innocently playing in their parents' car at a petrol station in Miranda do Douro, near the border with Spain The boys could be seen clambering around in the grey car as the parents filled the car up  Two young brothers were abandoned by their parents in a wooded area in Portugal It comes after CCTV footage emerged showing the couple on their way to abandon their young children.  New footage obtained by local media showed the boys innocently playing in their parents' car at a petrol station in Miranda do Douro, near the border with Spain, after they arrived in Portugal.  Marc appears to be driving the grey car as he pulls into the petrol station.  Both he and Marine are seen getting out of the vehicle before walking over to an attendant.  In the back, one of the boys was seen clambering around the front seats, while the other leaned to the front of the car in the gap between the seats. TVI, a Portuguese broadcaster, reported that the footage was taken at 6.16pm on May 11 - the same day the family arrived in Portugal via Bragança on the Spanish border.  They crossed the border after the French woman disappeared with the two children around two weeks ago, before setting off on the road trip to Portugal. Earlier reporting indicated the younger child was three, not four.  Marine's mother, the boys' maternal grandmother, reported the children's disappearance to police, telling them they had been abducted by their mother.  Marine, born in 1984, graduated in psychomotor therapy from the Pierre and Marie Curie University of Paris in 2008.  She worked in the town of Troyes for 10 years before studying sexology at the Paris Diderot University between 2019 and 2022.  The French woman left Troyes in 2025 to settle down in Colmar. Following her separation from the boys' biological father, she obtained custody of her two children. As a sexologist, Marine specialises in 'body-based practices, developmental dynamics, and specific trauma care, offers consultations in France, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, as well as via videoconference', according to her LinkedIn.  She adds: 'I help women and men achieve sexual fulfilment. At your own pace, even if you're traumatised.' On her Facebook, she does not have any images or videos of her children, but promotes her business heavily. She said she helps women with their sexuality following 'traumatic stress related to childbirth, rape, assault, humiliation, pain, hurtful words, discrediting of your erotic potential and your femininity'. Marine also organises masterclasses on 'co-construction of sexuality', intended 'for parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, for every member in families, for anyone who would like to pass on something about sexuality, whether to children, adolescents or young people, while respecting their sensitivity and level of development.' The boys' biological father, who was only given 'limited and supervised visitation rights' to see the children, also filed a child abduction report to police. Colmar prosecutor Jean Richert said on Thursday: 'He's like everyone else, he doesn't understand.' After arriving in the country, the family then travelled more than 310 miles, first going to the Miranda do Corvo region before heading further south to Alcacer do Sal.  The French couple and their children stayed in a hotel in the town, located around 12 miles from where they were found.  On Tuesday, the young boys were found by a local couple, Eugenia and Artur Quintas.   Artur said: 'They were crying, they were terrified. They were crying and calling for their father.' Marine was seen in a police station in the city today, apparently in handcuffs  The boys were taken to hospital to be looked at, and police spoke to them there Your browser does not support iframes. He added that they were both covered in dirt and bruises, and one had hurt his knee. Neither boy had any identifying documents on them.  The Quintases took the young children to their home and called the police, who quickly arrived and took them to Setúbal Hospital for a full health assessment. There, they were given a clean bill of health.  A toxicology report revealed the boys had not been drugged by the parents.   After questioning them, they were able to figure out that the boys had actually come from France.   The boys told authorities that their parents told them they were going to play a game to 'drive away the devil'.  The couple had blindfolded them and took them to a wooded area, before telling them they could only remove their eye covers once they had found a knife the couple had buried in the ground and used it to cut them off.  The boys were digging around in the dirt for several minutes before the older boy took their blindfolds off. To their shock, the boys realised they were all alone.  Still believing that they were playing a game, the boys wandered the area for several hours through a part of Portugal that can reach up to 30C during the day at this time of year.  Artur told local media: 'The oldest one told me that he and his brother had gotten lost in the forest and that their father and mother had left without taking them.'  He added: 'I realised right away that they had been abandoned by the backpacks. When I saw the way the backpacks were packed, I knew they had been abandoned.' On Thursday, Portuguese police announced that they had arrested a 55-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman 'linked to the incident involving two minor children found alone near a public road in the municipality of Alcácer do Sal'. They were arrested at a café terrace in Fatima on suspicion of abuse, endangering others, and abandonment.  Marine was seen in a police station in the city today, apparently in handcuffs.  They were given nothing more than a change of clothes, two pieces of fruit and some water  The children were left to wander through a wooded area between Alcacer do Sal and Comporta The boys were placed into foster care after information about the boys was requested from the French embassy in Portugal, which revealed they had no blood relatives in the country.  French authorities are now set to process the boys' return to their country of origin.  French police are already aware of the stepfather, who is believed to suffer from a psychiatric disorder. French prosecutors are opening a child neglect case.  Experts fear that the children may suffer long-term psychological harm as a result of being abandoned.  Psychologist Melanie Tavares told CNN Portugal: 'It's the feeling of abandonment, of being lost, unprotected, of not having familiar resources to ultimately soothe the fear.' She said being left in the woods may affect their emotional security and cause sleep difficulties, eating disorders, irritability and isolation.  Tavares said: 'This will obviously bring, in the coming days, some symptoms to which those caring for these children will have to be very attentive.  'We are talking about several situations, namely great difficulty in sleeping, falling asleep and maintaining sleep, changes in normal routines, including eating, irritability or even almost permanent isolation, as well as great difficulty, often, in accepting rules and the context in which they are, because none of this is familiar to these children.' She added that the fact that the parents pretended to be playing a 'game' could result in a significant distrust in parental figures.  She said: 'These children will be in constant distress, a great deal of distress from abandonment, and distress from separation.  'This is a trauma that will remain, just like when we get a tattoo. It stays for life.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. 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