A woman suspect accused with mistreating and torturing a 12-year-old girl before causing her death by suffocation will face court proceedings for murder this Friday in a case that stunned the country and caused political waves.
Finding the Deceased Girl
Lola Daviet’s body was discovered concealed within a storage box that had been dumped on the street close to her family home.
The 27-year-old accused, 27 years old, faces charges for the murder of a minor, violent sexual assault, torture and a barbaric act in a incident that provoked widespread horror across the nation in the past.
Political Fallout
Extremist political factions attempted to make political capital from the brutal murder after it was revealed that Benkired, who was of Algerian origin, had no right to reside in France and had been issued with an order to leave weeks before the incident.
Sequence of Occurrences
Daviet had traveled a short distance from school and arrived at her home in the Parisian district, where her parents served as the building’s concierges, around 3pm on a Friday in mid-October 2022.
The building’s video surveillance recorded the accused, who was without housing or work but residing temporarily in her sister’s flat in the building, encountering the girl just after 3pm outside the property.
Investigation and Arrest
The girl’s family notified authorities when their child failed to return home. An hour and a half later, the suspect was filmed in the entrance hallway of the building accompanied by luggage including a sizeable container.
Benkired, who was said to have given confused accounts of events, was evaluated by several psychiatrists and psychologists but judged fit for court proceedings. She has been detained at Fresnes prison in the Paris region for the preceding 36 months.
Political Commentary
In the wake of the tragic incident, Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National sought to gain electoral leverage out of the alleged murderer’s irregular migration status. A conservative parliamentarian, of the center-right party, said in parliament that the victim had been murdered as a consequence of alleged leniency on immigration.
However, MPs were urged by government representatives of the moderate administration to “demonstrate basic respect”.
The former legal affairs official, Éric Dupond-Moretti, accused them of playing “partisan games” and using “the coffin of a 12-year-old girl” to advance their ideological agenda.
Judicial Context and Penalties
In the French legal system, any sexual violation of any nature, committed on another person by force, intimidation, menaces or unexpected action, is classified as rape. Benkired faces a life sentence if convicted.
The court proceedings will continue through next Friday when a verdict is expected.
