Murdered schoolgirl Lola DavietThe tearful mother said justice had been served after the depraved killer of her 12-year-old daughter was jailed for life.
It comes after Algerian woman Dahbia Benkired, 27, was told she would never be released from her cell for torturing and raping the girl.
Lola’s devastated mother Delphine said after the sentencing: “We believed in justice and we got it.”
Meanwhile, the victim’s emotional brother thanked the justice system and said, “We got what we wanted.”
A lawyer for Lola family He also said: “It is a fair decision. We have returned the memory, the truth of this young woman.”
“Justice will allow us to move forward. The sentence is proportional to the immensity of the damage committed.”
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The historic verdict makes Dahbia Benkired the first French female criminal history be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
Among the men currently serving the same rate is Salah Abdeslam, the Belgian terrorist who was part of the 10-man group. Islamic State gang that murdered 130 people in one night in Paris in November 2015.
Dahbia appeared impassive when the verdict was read, while Delphine Daviet and Thibault Daviet, Lola’s mother and brother, hugged each other and cried profusely.
The desecrated body of the tragic girl was found in the lobby of the building where she lived in the French capital in 2022.
Benkired had confessed to the murder but, in accordance with French law, was tried at the Assizes in Paris.
Today he declared in court: “I apologized. What I did was horrible. That’s all I have to say.”
This was just before a jury found her conclusively guilty of all three counts of “murder, rape and torture” after nearly three hours of deliberations.
Lola was found to have suffered nearly 40 injuries, including a partially severed head and a scissored neck, as well as sexual abuse.
The horrific saga has become wildly political, because of the way it highlights weak immigration policies.
Protesters gathered in front of the court building today and called for the death penalty to be reinstated to deal with Benkired.
He should not even have been in France, after overstaying his student visa, but he was free to take advantage of Lola “for pleasure and satisfaction of his sexual impulses,” the Attorney General said.
The prosecutor, whose name is not listed under French legal convention, said Benkired should spend the rest of his days behind bars, without any possibility of parole.
Addressing the jury, the Attorney General said: “Today we must judge three crimes marked by particular cruelty and all of them punishable by life imprisonment.
“These are crimes that plunged a family into indescribable suffering.
“Dahbia Benkired is extremely dangerous and there is a maximum risk of him reoffending.”
The Attorney General called for a life sentence that aims to “protect society from a woman of whose extreme danger I am firmly convinced.”
The so-called “irreducible life sentence” – which is the one imposed on Benkired – is the harshest possible sentence according to the French Penal Code, and is often criticized by human rights bodies.
Lola’s mother, Delphine Daviet, 47, was crying her eyes out when she faced Benkired in court on Wednesday.
“Before this tragedy, we had a very simple family life, very attentive to each other,” said Mrs Daviet.
Everything changed on October 14, 2022, when Lola was kidnapped from the apartment block where she lived with her parents and brother.
Recalling their last moments together, Ms Daviet said: “I kissed her, I said, ‘See you later.’ Then she encountered this thing, this diabolical monster.
“I feel guilty, I couldn’t save my Lola. My husband and my son also blame themselves a lot.”
Benkired sexually assaulted Lola, slit her throat with scissors and a box cutter, and then taped her face together, causing her to die because she couldn’t breathe.
“Who could have imagined what would happen when Lola encountered this thing, this monster?” said Mrs. Daviet.
“Why us, why Lola? My mother’s heart is broken forever.”
Mrs Daviet’s husband Johan Daviet, 49, died in February last year due to excessive alcohol consumption linked to the family tragedy.
The couple had worked as janitors in the building where Lola was kidnapped by Benkired, a homeless man.
Mrs Daviet said: “I tell myself that I am lucky to have my son Thibault by my side, otherwise he may not be here anymore.
“I remind you that I lost my Lola, my husband, my job, my house. My whole life has collapsed. Sometimes I wonder how I’m still standing.”
Benkired, whose son was arrested after Lola’s body was found in a trunk, watched such wills against him impassively.
She was examined by psychiatrists and deemed fit to stand trial.
Éric Pauget of France’s Republican Party said in parliament that Lola had been murdered as a result of France’s “weak immigration policies.”
Benkired has been detained in the high-security Fresnes prison, south of Paris, for the past three years.
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She previously claimed that she was “bewitched” by her ex-boyfriend, identified as Fatah A.
Benkired was led away to begin serving her full sentence immediately following her six-day trial.