A woman, aged 41, accused of deserting her two young sons is currently detained in a secure women’s prison where inmates intentionally ignite fires. Marine Rousseau and her partner Marc Ballabriga, aged 55, are charged with endangerment and abandonment following the discovery of a five-year-old boy and his three-year-old sibling walking along a rural road in Monte Novo do Sul, a secluded area between Comporta and Alcácer do Sal in Portugal.
Reportedly, the children were found blindfolded in a forest near an abandoned bus stop, carrying only a few pieces of fruit and a bottle of water. They were rescued by a local baker who promptly alerted the authorities. The kids are now under the care of a foster family until their return to France.
The couple was apprehended by the Portuguese National Guard (GNR) while peacefully seated at a café terrace close to the pilgrimage town of Fátima, approximately 120 miles away from where the children were located.
Rousseau, upon her court appearance, sang to herself as she was taken in. She was then remanded to the Tires women’s prison, situated about 12 miles west of Lisbon. This high-security facility accommodates numerous inmates, including both awaiting trial and convicted individuals, handling some of Portugal’s most severe criminal cases. It has a history of safety concerns endangering both prisoners and guards.
In a previous incident, an inmate set fire to her cell, leading to five female officers being hospitalized due to smoke inhalation. Another incident involved two suspected drug overdoses, one resulting in an inmate’s death. Following these events, the chief prison officer was dismissed pending further investigation.
In 2024, union reports detailed over a dozen attacks on guards by inmates. Other past occurrences at the prison include a significant Covid outbreak in 2020 affecting more than 120 inmates, as well as inmate deaths in their cells in 2018 and 2021.
Rousseau will remain at Tires until her next court hearing. She, a self-proclaimed online sexologist helping individuals overcome trauma for inner peace and sexual contentment, divorced the boys’ father some years ago.
Meanwhile, Ballabriga, a former police officer convicted in 2010 of harassment and domestic violence against his daughter’s mother, is detained at the Setúbal Prison.