Romanian couple strikes plea deals over holding Indonesian woman's twin babies for 24 days

How the case began

Prosecutors say that in July 2025 the couple, identified as M.F. and G.D.S., were living in Italy when they took on an Indonesian woman to help with housework and look after their minor daughter. After learning that she was pregnant with twins, the couple allegedly tried to persuade her to hand the children over to them, and even attempted to declare falsely that they were the babies' biological parents. When the woman refused to part with the infants and Italian authorities opened an investigation, she was placed in a care centre. Prosecutors allege that M.F. then used a range of tactics to control her, and the statement described them this way:

“The defendant M.F. resorted to numerous manipulation techniques, including isolating the victim from her close ones, appealing to her Catholic faith, inventing fictional characters and simulating imminent dangers.”

According to the same account, the woman was pushed to leave the care centre, cross into Romania without authorisation and move in with the couple at several addresses in Sector 5 of Bucharest.

Twins taken and kept for 24 days

Prosecutors say that in the early morning of 2 July 2026, M.F. persuaded the woman to bring the newborns outside the house, telling her that Catholic missionaries would collect them and take them to the Vatican, where she would follow later. G.D.S., who allegedly had his face covered, took the babies, then left with M.F. and their daughter, leaving the mother to believe that the twins had died. The babies were five months old at the time. For 24 days the couple allegedly kept the twins in a car, living on begging and theft. Police located them on 25 July 2026, and the babies, now eight months old according to one report, were handed back to their mother.

Plea agreements and sentences

On 20 October 2026 the prosecutor attached to the Sector 5 Bucharest district court concluded plea agreements with both defendants, who were held in pre-trial detention. Under the agreements, M.F. would receive a sentence of 4 years and 4 months and G.D.S. a sentence of 3 years and 4 months, both to be served in detention. Both defendants were investigated for unlawful deprivation of liberty, and both acknowledged the facts as part of the deals. The agreements were sent to the Sector 5 Bucharest district court for resolution, which means the court still has to rule on them before the sentences can be treated as final.

Victim, child and what comes next

The twins' mother was reunited with her children after police intervened, and the babies were returned to her. The couple's minor daughter was with them throughout the 24 days, according to the prosecutors' account, and she is not named in any of the reporting. Her role and welfare are not described in detail in the statements issued so far. The case now rests with the Sector 5 district court, which has to decide whether to approve the agreements and formally impose the sentences set out by prosecutors.