ZAP // DR
The two children, aged 3 and 5, were found on the Alcácer do Sal – Comporta road
Children aged four and five are, at least for now, in the care of social support services in Colmar, France. The father spoke about the “deeply shocking” facts of the case that shook the country on the 19th.
The two younger French brothers in the Alcácer do Sal area will return to France, remaining in the care of social support services in Colmar, the Setúbal Court announced today.
According to a note sent by the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), the French authorities, “through judicial cooperation mechanisms, communicated that they had taken the provisional decision to place these children in the care of Colmar’s social support services while carrying out an assessment of family members or third parties with a view to assessing their conditions for welcoming children aged 4 and 5.
With this request, the “Family and Minors Court of Santiago do Cacém decided to return the children to their State of habitual residence”, France, so that the respective protective measures can be determined.
According to the note, the request was made under the European regulation that establishes that the application of protection measures and parental responsibility is the responsibility of the judicial authorities of the children’s habitual residence — that is, France. The return to Colmar, the court added, will be done in coordination between the French and Portuguese authorities, Thus, with the children leaving Portugal, the Portuguese intervention ended.
The father spoke
The children’s father wrote an email, anonymously, to the French channel Ici Alsace TV.
The parent, who currently has limited and supervised visitation rights, assured that he does not leave the phone for “a second” and that he is with him “day and night”, awaiting contact from the authorities.
“It’s just a matter of days before I get my children back. I think about them every second since the Colmar police station contacted me to report their disappearance,” wrote the children’s father.
“My children will have to rebuild their lives as I did and do not need to be reminded of this tragedy. I am not trying to defend or minimize the acts committed. The facts continue to be serious and deeply shocking. I refuse to add hate speech, insults or labels that aim to dehumanize a person, even if found guilty”, he further wrote.
Mother and stepfather detained and separated
On the other hand, in relation to the two suspects of abandoning the children in Alcácer do Sal — the mother of the minors and her partner — they are, at the moment, indicted by the crimes of offense to qualified physical integrity and exposure and abandonment.
The 41-year-old woman is being held in the Tires prison and her 55-year-old partner is being held in the prison attached to the Judiciary Police, in Lisbon.
Blindfolded, deceived and abandoned
On Tuesday, the 19th, at around 7:00 pm, the two children were found by baker Alexandre Quintas, when they were alone, wandering along Estrada Nacional 253 (EN253)in the Monte Novo do Sul area, between Comporta and Alcácer do Sal, district of Setúbal.
The two brothers carried a backpack with a change of clothes, fruit and a bottle of water and, according to what was reported in the media, they allegedly reported that their mother blindfolded them and said they were going to play a game, when she abandoned them, leaving in the car with the other man.
The presiding judge of the Judicial Court of Setúbal, António José Fialho, clarified, on Friday, the 22nd, that the two minors lived with their mother in France, and the parents were separated. The father, in fact, has “limited and supervised visitation rights”.
