A tragedy that pierced the heart of France has taken a deeper, more devastating turn. In October 2022, 12-year-old Lola Daviet was found raped, tortured, and murdered in her Paris neighborhood. The nation recoiled in shock and sorrow as details of her brutal killing at the hands of Dahbia Benkired, a 27-year-old Algerian migrant with an expired visa, came to light. As the investigation unfolded and a rare life sentence was delivered to the perpetrator, another heartache quietly unfolded: Lola’s father, once a devoted building caretaker and family man, died of grief in the months following his daughter’s murder, overwhelmed by the loss and trauma that consumed his family.
The crime and national reaction
On the afternoon of October 14, 2022, Lola’s parents reported her disappearance after she failed to return home from school. Security footage showed the suspect luring Lola into her building, and, later, leaving with a trunk that concealed the girl’s body. The horrifying discovery of Lola’s remains, mutilated and hidden in a suitcase in the building’s courtyard, set off an intense, highly publicised police investigation. Public reaction was swift—fueled by the horrific details and the revelation that Benkired was living in France in defiance of a deportation order, the crime ignited protests and fierce political debate about immigration and public safety.
The trial and historic sentence
Benkired admitted to the crime, and the evidence presented during trial—autopsy reports, witness testimony, surveillance video—left little doubt about the cruelty inflicted on Lola. The presiding judge cited the “extreme cruelty” and “true torture” in the decision to hand down an “irreducible life sentence.” It was the harshest punishment allowed under French law and the first such sentence for a woman in French legal history. Psychiatric experts described Benkired as exhibiting “psychopathic” traits, but she was found fully responsible for her actions and offered only apologies for her “horrible” deeds.
The aftermath and family tragedy
For Lola’s family, the pain did not end with the conviction. Her mother, Delphine, testified that her husband Johan, who had long struggled with alcoholism before years of sobriety, began drinking again after their daughter’s murder. Grief overcame him so completely that he died in February 2024, unable to recover from his child’s loss. “He drank from morning until night,” Delphine told the court, describing a family forever broken by violence.
