“Abandoned children” were blindfolded by parents, and left in forest – Portugal Resident
The harrowing story of two young French brothers, aged 3 and 5, discovered wandering on a road linking Alcácer do Sal with Comporta, has been further explained today, as it is now horribly clear that they were abandoned by their parents.
According to SIC, they have described how they were blindfolded in a nearby forest and told they would be playing a game, to find a toy. But there was no game: their parents left the children, who had two little rucksacks with them.
When Alexandre Quintas passed the boys on the road, at around 7pm last night, and looked in his rear view mirror, he could see they were in distress – calling in his direction, and sobbing. He told SIC that he stopped, went back to see what the matter was – and realised very quickly what must have happened.
“I understood straight away that they had been abandoned, because of their rucksacks. When I looked at the way the rucksacks had been packed, I knew they had been abandoned,” he said.
The rucksacks contained “a change of clothes, a packet of biscuits, two items of fruit and a bottle of water.”
Quintas adds that the eldest child, just five years old, told him what had happened: “To trick the children, the parents blindfolded them and put them in the forest to play a game. They told the children to go and look for a toy…”
The brutal modern-day version of Hansel and Gretal will almost certainly be further explained, either tonight or tomorrow. SIC explains that police have already ‘identified the parents’, albeit there are no names, yet – and certainly no indication of a ‘happy family reunion’.
The children were taken initially to the local GNR station, and are now being cared for by child protection services.
Source material: SIC Notícias
