The Ukrainian couple who left their three-year-old child alone for 14 hours at home in their Lisbon accommodation have now been legally forbidden from contacting their child.
According to PSP police information, the ban is a part in the abandonment-related charges to which both parents were subjected to by a judge after they were arrested by local authorities on Sunday morning, when they arrived home after being absent for 14 hours, since lunchtime of the previous day.
It was a neighbour of the accommodation the family were staying in, located on Rua do Guarda-Mor, in the parish of Estrela, who alerted authorities after hearing the cries of the child who was shouting down from the second floor balcony.
The police offers who arrived on scene found the child "visibly scared", and found that "the child had no access to food or water, and that the 3-year-old’s face had turned red indicating prolonged sun exposure from being on the balcony.”
The couple of Ukrainian psychiatrists have since been released, and the child remains in the care of Public Ministry’s social services, which were involved in her rescue from the 2nd floor balcony in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Her parents – who now face criminal charges – left their daughter so they could enjoy a night out, according a source.
