A judge has ordered pre-trial detention for a mother and stepfather in a case involving the alleged abandonment of two young French children in Portugal, according to media reports on Saturday.
The two French citizens are strongly suspected of causing grievous bodily harm and abandoning children, Judge António Fialho said at the court in the city of Setúbal.
The mother, 41, and the stepfather, 55, are from Colmar, in north-eastern France.
The mother of the two brothers — aged 3 and 5 — and the stepfather are alleged to have abandoned the children on Tuesday on a remote country road near Alcácer do Sal south-east of Lisbon. A motorist noticed the crying and confused children, took them into his care and alerted the police. The mother and stepfather were arrested on Thursday after a nationwide search.
The boys have since been placed with a foster family in Portugal that speaks French, several Portuguese media reported. They are to remain there until Portugal has decided on a request from France for the brothers to be returned. The biological father is said to have already set off for Portugal.
Couple allegedly planned to claim mental health problems
State broadcaster RTP and the newspaper Correio da Manha reported, citing sources in Portugal's National Republican Guard (GNR), that the mother and stepfather agreed during a prison transfer to claim a mental disorder in court. A police officer who was guarding the two French nationals during the journey on Friday is said to have heard this.
The court in Setúbal initially did not comment on the reports.
