A French mother and her partner are being held in a Portuguese police station without charge or trial, sources confirm, after allegedly abandoning her two young sons in a forest near Lisbon last week. The woman, identified as 34-year-old Marie Dubois, and her boyfriend, 29-year-old Pierre Lefevre, were detained by Portuguese authorities on Monday, but have yet to appear before a judge or be formally accused of any crime. The boys, aged 5 and 7, were found wandering by a farmer who alerted police.
They were taken into protective custody and are reportedly in good health. Investigators have uncovered phone records suggesting the couple fled to Spain but were arrested crossing back into Portugal at a border checkpoint. Documents obtained by our team show that Dubois had been struggling with debt and a custody battle with her ex-husband.
Lefevre has a prior conviction for theft. The Portuguese public prosecutor's office has not commented on the delay in charging the pair, but legal experts say it is unusual to hold suspects beyond 48 hours without judicial review. The French embassy in Lisbon is said to be monitoring the case.
A source close to the investigation told me: "We are still piecing together what happened. It looks like a planned abandonment, but motives remain unclear."
The boys are now with foster carers while social services assess their long-term care. Dubois and Lefevre could face charges of child abandonment, which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years in Portugal.
