A French mother and her partner have been remanded in custody by a Portuguese judge this morning, after sources confirm the pair left her two young sons by the side of a rural road near Porto. The boys aged 5 and 7 were discovered by a passing motorist at dawn yesterday, shivering and in tears. They had been abandoned overnight with no food or water.
Police documents uncovered by this journalist reveal the couple had driven from France to Portugal on a holiday that rapidly unravelled. Witnesses at the campsite where they had been staying reported loud arguments in the days before the abandonment. The mother, 34 year old Camille Dubois, and her boyfriend, 38 year old Marc Leclerc, were arrested at a petrol station 50 miles from the scene.
They offered no explanation to arresting officers. A source close to the investigation said the boys are now in state care and are showing signs of neglect. The judge cited flight risk and the severity of the crime as reasons for denying bail.
This case echoes the pattern of parental neglect that this newspaper has tracked across Europe. A report due to be published next week by the Child Protection Alliance reveals a 40% rise in abandoned children incidents in tourist hotspots since 2020. The couple face charges of aggravated abandonment of minors and could each face up to 10 years in a Portuguese prison.
Dubois’s family in Lyon have refused to comment. A neighbour described her as a caring mother but acknowledged she had been under ‘enormous stress’ since her divorce last year. The investigation continues.
This reporter will be following the money trail: who paid for the trip and why the sudden disintegration of a family. No easy answers here.
