Cape Town - A French couple convicted of charges linked to illegal adoption, transportation and fraud involving more than 100 African children is operating a family games cafe in the heart of Cape Town.
Social media users have expressed dismay and shock that Eric Breteau and his partner, Emilie Lelouch, who were nabbed in Chad in 2007, are running The Big Box Cafe on Roeland Street which is set up with board games and round tables and is inviting for families.
In a case that made global headlines, the defendants were charged with acting illegally as an adoption intermediary, facilitating illegal entry into the country, and fraud with regard to 358 families who had expected to adopt children.
The duo, ex-charity workers, were sentenced to two years in prison and fined e50 000 each and banned from working with minors.
According to BBC News reports, Breteau started Zoé’s Ark in 2005, a French charity organisation with the aim of increasing awareness of the crisis in Darfur and providing aid for children affected by the conflict. Through Zoé’s Ark, they planned to place the children, most under 5 years old, in foster care with French families. “However, the 103 children the charity was putting on to a plane from Chad to France in 2007 were found to be largely from Chad itself, and were not orphans,” said a BBC report.
Zoe’s Ark received a e100 000 fine from the Paris Court and was dissolved.
After a number of failed calls and two attempts to meet the duo at their café the Weekend Argus finally tracked down Breteau. Hesitant to speak, he said: “It is now with the lawyers because these are serious allegations.”
He challenged people on social media to meet him and hear his side of the story.
When asked if his lawyers could be contacted for comment, he declined.
“There will be a press release next week. The legal process will be followed because it is defamatory.”
Molo Songololo director Patric Solomons said the case had left many unanswered questions and stressed that the couple had not been found guilty of a crime in South Africa.
“They were found guilty of bribing a Spanish crew to get the children into France and for organising the children under false pretences,” he said.
He added that most countries have laws that prohibit anyone found guilty of offences against children from working with them.
Solomons appealed to parents to be vigilant when leaving their children in the care of others and called on schools and organisations to make sure all adults who work with children were vetted.
Home Affairs spokesman Thabo Mokgola was unable to shed light on the matter in the absence of the couple’s passport numbers, the date of entry in to SA and port of entry.