A female migrant who allegedly raped, tortured and then murdered a schoolgirl should be imprisoned for the rest of her life, a court heard today. Dahbia Benkired, a 27-year-old Algerian, is standing trial for allegedly killing 12-year-old Lola Daviet.
The 12-year-old’s defiled corpse was found in the lobby of the building where she lived in the French capital in 2022. While Benkired has confessed to the killing, in line with French law, the case against her has to be proved during an ongoing trial at the Paris Assizes. This case horrified the country and sparked anti-immigration fervour because the woman did not have the right to be in France. Benkired overstayed a student visa, yet was left free to prey on Lola “for pleasure and the satisfaction of sexual urges”, the Attorney General told the court.
The prosecuting official – who is not named according to French legal convention – told the court Benkired should spend the rest of her days behind bars, without any chance of parole.
Addressing the jury, the Attorney General said: “Today you have to judge three crimes marked by particular cruelty which are all punishable by life imprisonment. They are crimes which plunged a family into unspeakable suffering. Dahbia Benkired is extremely dangerous, and there is a maximum risk of her reoffending.”
The Attorney General called for a life sentence that aims “to protect society from a woman whose extreme danger I am firmly convinced of.”
A so-called “irreducible life sentence” is the harshest penalty possible under the French Penal Code, and often criticised by human rights bodies.
The lives of the Daviet family changed forever on October 14, 2022, when Lola was allegedly abducted from the apartment block where she lived with her parents and brother.
Investigators allege Benkired raped and tortured the girl before suffocating her to death.
Benkired was arrested soon after Lola’s corpse was found in a trunk.
She was examined by psychiatrists and judged able to stand trial.
The accused apologised for her “horrible” actions when her trial opened last week.
Benkired has been held on remand in Fresnes high security prison, south of Paris, for the last three years.
Benkired’s six-day trial is expected to end today, Friday, when a verdict is also expected.
