A court in Setúbal, Portugal, has ordered the provisional imprisonment of the French couple, Marine Rousseau and Marc Ballagriga, accused of having abandoned their two children, aged 4 and 5, on a road just eight days after settling in the Portuguese country.
According to several Portuguese media outlets citing judicial sources, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Portugal had requested the preventive detention measure for alleged crimes of aggravated harm to physical integrity and exposure to abandonment.
The court's resolution "takes into account the precautionary requirements of the case, such as the risk of flight, the risk of disruption of the proceedings, the risk of continuation of criminal activity, and the risk of disruption of public order and tranquility."
In this context, the judicial body concludes that "other measures would be inadequate or insufficient." Rousseau, 41, and Ballabriga, 55, were arrested on Thursday in Fátima after abandoning their children, Zacharie and Barthélémy, who are now with a foster family after being discharged from the Setúbal Hospital and with prospects of returning to their country.