"Heartless Stepdad Recorded on CCTV Assaulting Boy in Café Before Abandoning His 3 and 5-Year-Old Children in a Portuguese Forest"

A FORMER cop assaulted his stepson inside a café in Portugal before dumping him and his older brother – blindfolded – in forest, it has been reported.

CCTV footage from a café in the city of Alcácer do Sal, an hour’s drive from Lisbon, , 55, violently grabbing the arms of three- year-old Zacharie.

Barthelemy and Zacharie, aged five and three, were found screaming and crying on a Portuguese rural road Credit: CEN The boys were found with a change of clothes and very little food Credit: CEN

Ballabriga and Marine Rousseau, 41, are accused of ditching Barthelemy, five, and his brother in a forest as part of a “treasure hunt” game.

The couple were arrested on May 21 – two days after abandoning the boys, allegedly telling them that they could only remove their blindfolds once they had found knives.

This is the latest sickening twist in the case, which was only uncovered thanks to a officer who speaks French and overheard the pair’s scheming.

Alcácer locals claim that the French family was seen visiting a café in the area.

Citing the CCTV shared by the owners, police indicted Ballabriga for more crimes, including aggravated assault, CNN Portugal reported.

The couple were refused bail earlier this week and will be held until their trial.

Barthelemy and Zacharie were spotted crying and screaming – all alone – and covered in dirt, on a rural road on Tuesday evening.

Nearly 48 hours had passed since their parents had abandoned them in the woodland with nothing more than a change of clothes, two pieces of fruit and two bottles of water in a small backpack, it is understood.

Rousseau, a sexologist, and her partner Ballabriga reportedly scarpered, and were later tracked down by police 125 miles away at O Vasco café in Fatima.

Seemingly completely unconcerned about the two tiny children, the pair were enjoying snacks and soaking up the sun on the terrace.

Owner Jorge Lopes told Portuguese press that they were approached by five police officers and “acted as if nothing had happened”.

“They stayed sitting and didn’t seem nervous. They were searched and handcuffed without any stress at all,” he said.

Ballabriga as he left court Credit: EPA Marine Rousseau, 41, leaves court Credit: EPA

“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.”

The children’s father had reported them missing on May 11 after they vanished from their home in Colmar in northeastern near the border with .

Rousseau, 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 .

The hunt for the family intensified before they entered via the town of Miranda do Douro in the northeastern district of Braganca.

Chilling CCTV footage showed the children innocently playing around in their parents’ car at a petrol station in Miranda do Douro, near the Spanish border before their ordeal began.