The court that sentenced Dahbia Benkired, the killer of Lola Daviet, on Friday.
Frederic Munsch/SIPA/AP
As mentioned by CNN
In Paris, three years ago a woman was charged with raping, torturing, and murdering a 12-year-old girl; on Friday she was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, BFMTV reports.
Dahbia Benkirid, a 27-year-old woman from Algeria, is to serve no less than 30 years in prison for crimes against Lola Davie. She became the first woman in France to receive such a sentence – the harshest under the French Penal Code, BFMTV notes.
In October 2022, Lola Davie’s body was found with numerous injuries and packed in a plastic container in a public space outside the home where the girl lived, according to the Paris prosecutor’s statement.
The victim’s body was discovered a few hours after she was first reported missing, the statement said.
Surveillance cameras captured the schoolgirl entering the apartment building together with Benkirid at 15:15 that day. Less than two hours later she was seen leaving the building on her own, with heavy suitcases, the statement said.
Davie died of cardio-pulmonary failure with signs of asphyxia and neck compression, according to the prosecutor’s statement.
She had many other injuries, including to the face, back, and large cuts to the neck, which, according to forensic examination, did not affect the cause of death, the statement said.
Benkirid told the police that she led Davie to her sister’s apartment, who lived in the same building as the victim, the statement said.
There, according to the statement, she forced the girl to take a shower before “carrying out sexual assaults and other aggressive acts that led to her death,” after which she hid the child’s body in a plastic box.
In court on Friday, Benkirid said that her crimes were “horrific,” apologizing before the proceedings began, BFMTV reports.
“Horrific” crimes – she said, apologizing before the proceedings began.
In a statement after the verdict was handed down, Lola Davie’s brother thanked the French justice system for Benkirid’s sentence, saying that their family was “happy with the response we received.”
“Happy with the response we received”
Lola Davie’s family’s lawyer, Clotilde Lepetit, welcomed “a just decision based on reason, humanity, truth, and memory,” BFMTV notes.
“A just decision based on reason, humanity, truth, and memory”
“We have restored the memory of this young girl. We have restored the shattered truth,” said the attorney, according to BFMTV materials.
“We have restored the memory of this young girl. We have restored the shattered truth”
Benkirid’s lawyer, Alexandre Valois, said the Friday ruling came as no surprise. The killer has not yet decided whether to appeal, journalists report, according to BFMTV.
