A woman suspect charged with abusing and torturing a 12-year-old girl before causing her death by suffocation will face court proceedings for homicide this Friday in a legal matter that stunned the country and sparked public controversy.
Finding the Deceased Girl
Lola Daviet’s body was discovered stuffed into a plastic trunk that had been abandoned on the street close to her residence.
Dahbia Benkired, aged 27, is indicted for the murder of a minor, violent sexual assault, torture and a barbaric act in a case that aroused widespread horror across the nation in the past.
Political Reactions
Extremist political factions attempted to make political capital from the brutal murder after it was disclosed that the suspect, who was born in Algeria, lacked authorization to remain in France and had been served an order to leave weeks before the incident.
Sequence of Occurrences
The young girl had traveled a short distance from her educational institution and reached her dwelling in the Parisian district, where her parents served as the building’s concierges, around 3pm on a Friday in mid-October 2022.
The security camera footage recorded the accused, who was without housing or work but residing temporarily in her sibling’s apartment in the building, encountering the girl just after 3pm outside the property.
Investigation and Arrest
Daviet’s parents raised the alarm when their child did not appear home. An hour and a half later, Benkired was recorded in the lobby area of the building accompanied by luggage including a large trunk.
Benkired, who was said to have given inconsistent statements of the incident, was examined by several psychiatrists and clinical evaluators but deemed able to stand trial. She has been held in Fresnes prison in the Paris region for the last three years.
Government Responses
In the wake of the tragic incident, Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National sought to gain political capital out of the alleged murderer’s unauthorized residency. A conservative parliamentarian, of the center-right party, stated during legislative session that Lola had been murdered as a consequence of France’s purported weakness on migration policy.
However, elected officials were urged by government representatives of the moderate administration to “show a little decency”.
The then justice minister, the ex-minister, accused them of playing “petty politics” and using “a child’s tragic death” to promote their ideological agenda.
Legal Framework and Potential Sentence
In the French legal system, any sexual violation of any nature, perpetrated against another person by force, coercion, menaces or unexpected action, is classified as rape. Benkired faces a life sentence if convicted.
The trial will continue through the following week when a verdict is expected.
