The French justice system has delivered a life sentence without the possibility of parole to Dahbia Benkired, a 27-year-old Algerian migrant, for the brutal rape, torture and murder of 12-year-old schoolgirl Lola Daviet. The horrific crime, which occurred in October 2022, sent shockwaves across France and beyond.
A Chilling Sequence of Events
On October 14, 2022, Lola Daviet was captured on CCTV returning to her apartment building in Paris after school. Footage showed her speaking with Dahbia Benkired, who lived in the same block with her sister, at around 3pm. The young girl was then led into an apartment, from which she would never emerge alive.
The court heard that Benkired, then aged 24, subjected Lola to an unimaginably savage attack. The child was sexually assaulted, attacked with scissors and a box cutter, and suffered 38 separate wounds to her back and neck. Her head, nose and mouth were bound with tape, leading to her death by suffocation. A medical expert testified that Lola had also sustained "visible traumatic injuries" to her genitals and that her head had been partially severed.
In a macabre twist, the numbers '1' and '0' were found written on the victim's feet, a detail authorities have been unable to explain.
Retaliation and a Grisly Discovery
The prosecution alleged that the attack was an act of retaliation. Benkired reportedly held a grudge against Lola's mother, Delphine Daviet, who worked as a caretaker in the building, for refusing to provide her with a key fob for the main door. Benkired's sister had already given her a key to their flat.
After the murder, Benkired placed Lola's body in a plastic trunk. Disturbing CCTV footage presented to the court showed the alleged murderer dragging the trunk through the streets of Paris and later, even unzipping it while seated at a bustling bar on Rue Manin. Lola's body, naked with her arms bound and face covered in tape, was eventually discarded on the street, where it was discovered by a homeless man.
Courtroom Confessions and a Life Sentence
During the trial at the Paris Assize Court in October 2025, Benkired confessed to the crimes and expressed remorse. "What I did was horrible," she stated. "I would like to ask the whole family for forgiveness. What I did was horrible and I regret it."
The court heard details of Benkired's troubled background, including claims of childhood abuse and a mental breakdown following her parents' deaths. She admitted to smoking large quantities of cannabis daily to cope. Significantly, she was facing deportation at the time of the murder, having overstayed her student visa since August 2022.
Lola's family attended court wearing matching t-shirts bearing the message: 'You were the sun of our life, you will be the star of our nights.' Her mother, Delphine, demanded "justice," while her brother, Thibault, spoke of the family's devastation, noting their father had also died due to the trauma of the event.
On October 24, 2025, the court found Dahbia Benkired guilty of murder, rape, and acts of torture and barbarity. She was sentenced to the most severe punishment available: life imprisonment with no chance of parole.
