Opera Performance Takes Center Stage at Court Hearing for Sexologist Mum Who Left Her Young Sons in the Forest, While Stepdad Proclaims Love

A SEXOLOGIST mum and stepdad who allegedly abandoned their two children in a forest were heard singing opera and shouting “I love you” in a bizarre court hearing.

Marine Rousseau, 41, and Marc Ballabriga, 55, are accused of , blindfolded in a twisted “treasure hunt” in .

Frenchwoman Marine Rousseau (L) leaves the Setubal courthouse on May 23 Credit: AFP Frenchman Marc Ballabriga is also accused of abandoning the children Credit: AFP Picture shows the boys aged three and five after they were found Credit: CEN

The children were found crying and screaming alone on a rural road on Tuesday – before Rousseau, a sexologist, and her partner Ballabriga were tracked down by cops 100 miles away in a café near Lisbon.

On Friday, the couple were seen in handcuffs being escorted to a hearing by local cops.

While Rousseau was heard belting out a song like an opera singer, Ballabriga yelling in French: “I love you.”

It is unclear who exactly he was referring to when he made the remark.

The pair were accused by the judge of domestic violence, child abandonment, and child neglect.

A judge is expected to decide on Saturday whether the couple will be allowed to be released on bail.

Two European arrest warrants from have also been issued for the pair.

They are also suspected of abandoning another one of Rousseau’s sons, aged 16, behind in France.

Sexologist Marine Rousseau, 41, has been accused of abandoning her children Credit: Facebook The two boys were found 100 miles away from their parents Credit: CEN The boys were left with a few items Credit: CEN CCTV footage shows the French couple before they are suspected of abandoning the children in Portugal

It comes after Rousseau and Ballabriga were found enjoying snacks on a sunny café terrace – seemingly completely unconcerned about their two tiny children.

As their little boys were taken in by social services, the couple had sat knocking back lattes and enjoying pastries, soaking up the sun.

A French-speaking pensioner who chatted to them called the after becoming suspicious that they were the duo cops were hunting down after the boys discovery.

The parents are thought to have told the little Barthelemy and Zacharie that they were playing a game called “drive away the devil”.

They allegedly told the boys they could only remove the blindfolds once they had found knives the couple claimed to have buried in the dirt.

The children obeyed, while Rousseau and Ballabriga reportedly scarpered, leaving the kids with nothing more than a change of clothes, two pieces of fruit and two bottles of water packed into a small rucksack.

Their mum, who describes herself on social media as a “sexologist who helps traumatised individuals to regain serenity and sexual fulfilment”, was arrested with her partner at around 3.30pm yesterday.

The alleged abandoners were picked up at O Vasco café in Fatima, nearly 125 miles from where the two boys had been left nearly 48 hours earlier.

The pair were seen being taken to court Credit: AFP They faced a judge on Friday Credit: AFP

O Vasco owner Jorge Lopes told Portuguese press the couple had spent more than five hours on his café terrace before an unnamed pensioner called the police.

The elderly hero suspected Rousseau and Ballabriga after asking them where they were from and getting the bizarre response: “We live in the world.”

Café owner Jorge said that when the parents were approached by five police officers “they acted as if nothing had happened”.

He added: “They stayed sitting and didn’t seem nervous. They were searched and handcuffed without any stress at all.

“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.”

Chilling CCTV footage also 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.