Killing Of Lola Daviet
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On 14 October 2022, 12-year-old Lola Daviet was found dead in a travel trunk in the
19th arrondissement of Paris The 19th arrondissement of Paris (''XIXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dix-neuvième''. The arrondissement, known as Butte-Chaumont, ...
. The prosecutors said that she had been asphyxiated. The main suspect was recorded in the CCTV video carrying heavy luggage, which included the suitcase holding the victim, while leaving the building in the afternoon.


Victim

Lola Daviet, born 18 July 2010 in Béthune, was a student at the Collège Georges Brassens in Paris and was champion of France in aerobics.


Abduction and murder

On 14 October 2022, at about 16:30 ( UTC+1), Johan Daviet reported the disappearance of his daughter to a police station after she failed to return home from school. As the caretaker of the apartment building, he consulted CCTV footage. Lola was seen entering the building at 15:20, before following a woman, suspected to be Dahbia Benkired. According to Benkired's initial confession, she lured Lola into her sister's apartment and ordered the girl to shower. She then forced her victim to perform cunnilingus on her before putting adhesive tape on the girl's face. After Lola's death, Benkired stabbed the body. Lola's mother, Delphine, posted a message on Facebook at 18:45 reporting her daughter's disappearance. Police found duct tape and a box cutter in the apartment building's basement, and started a criminal investigation. At 23:30, a homeless man reported the discovery of a body inside of a travel trunk, the body had been mutilated and tied up.


Suspect

On 17 October, 24-year-old Dahbia Benkired was indicted on charges of "murder of a minor under 15" and "rape with torture and acts of barbarism". Born in
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, Benkired came to France legally in May 2016 on a student visa. She had had no prior criminal record and was known to police as a victim of
domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
in 2018. She is currently being held in isolation at Fresnes Prison. Benkired had no job or home, and lived with an acquaintance in Val-de-Marne and her 26-year-old sister in the
19th arrondissement of Paris The 19th arrondissement of Paris (''XIXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dix-neuvième''. The arrondissement, known as Butte-Chaumont, ...
. Her sister testified to investigators that Benkired had been making incoherent statements at night. Daviet's mother, the caretaker of the apartment where Benkired's sister lived, rejected Benkired's request for a pass to enter the apartment on her own. Benkired was not known to psychiatric services, and was declared mentally fit to be interviewed by police. Benkired's lawyer, Alexandre Silva, denied that the murder was motivated by race. On 21 August, Benkired was detained at Orly Airport for having neither a plane ticket nor valid identity papers, and was issued an obligation to leave the French territory (french: Obligation de quitter le territoire français; OQTF) the same day. As she had no criminal record, she was not sent to a detention centre, but given 30 days to return to Algeria.


Investigation

During her interrogation, Benkired fluctuated between accepting and denying responsibility, and said that her account of committing the crime was actually a recall of a dream. At points, she blamed the crime on an armed stranger, or a ghost. When shown pictures of the dead body, she said "That doesn't make me hot, or cold. I was raped too and I saw my parents die in front of me". She said that her motive was her dispute with the victim's mother.


Reaction

After the suspect was identified as having ignored an order to leave French territory, political figures of the right and
far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
attacked the government of President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
for the crime. In the National Assembly,
Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...
of the
National Rally The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a Far-right politics, far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as fa ...
(RN) attacked prime minister Élisabeth Borne, who responded by saying that the crime should be left to the police and judiciary. Éric Zemmour of Reconquête coined the term "Francocide" to describe the murder of a French person, for which he was criticised by Gérald Darmanin, the
Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
. Éric Pauget of The Republicans told the minister of justice
Éric Dupond-Moretti Éric Dupond-Moretti (born 20 April 1961) is a French-Italian lawyer and politician who was appointed Minister of Justice in 2020 by President Emmanuel Macron. As a criminal defence lawyer he is renowned for his record number of acquittals which e ...
that "Lola lost her life because you didn't expel this national". Macron met Daviet's parents. He condemned the murder as an act of "extreme evil" and the Minister of the Interior was present at Lola's funeral. Her parents called on politicians to not exploit the crime.


See also

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Murder of Sandra Cantu Sandra Renee Cantu (March 8, 2001 – March 27, 2009) was an American girl who gained national attention after she disappeared from Tracy, California, on March 27, 2009. Her body was discovered ten days later inside a suitcase in a local ...


References

{{Reflist, 30em Murder in Paris Rape in France 2022 in Paris October 2022 events in France October 2022 crimes in Europe 19th arrondissement of Paris 2022 murders in France Incidents of violence against girls