A 12-year-old girl was subjected to a horrific incident involving rape, torture, and murder.
The victim, Lola Daviet, was discovered deceased inside a suitcase in Paris. Following a prompt police inquiry, Dahbia Benkired, then 24 years old, was apprehended. Benkired has now become the first woman in French history to receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of these disturbing crimes.
During the court proceedings, chilling details emerged about Lola’s final moments. Benkired, a homeless Algerian immigrant, encountered Lola outside her apartment complex. Subsequently, she was captured on surveillance cameras unlawfully entering the building and lingering in the hallways.
The last recorded images of Lola show her encountering the stranger and following her down a corridor. Three years later, Benkired recounted the events that transpired. She confessed in court, “I asked her to follow me, to give me access, and to accompany me in the elevator (…) I brought her back with me, I restrained her, I ended her life.”
The young girl was sexually assaulted, then bound with tape that Benkired had obtained from her sister’s residence. Subsequently, Lola was left incapacitated on the floor with her face obscured, struggling to breathe.
Benkired shut the door behind her, leaving Lola to perish. She stated, “I entered the living room, left her for a while, and then returned.” To drown out any noises of distress, she played music for what she estimated to be “two to three minutes.”
During the violent encounter, Lola sustained facial injuries and was mutilated with a knife and scissors on her back and neck. Medical professionals believe these injuries occurred both before and after her death. Benkired then concealed the body inside a large plastic suitcase.
After cleaning up, Benkired exited her sister’s apartment. Surveillance footage captured her near the property with two rolling suitcases—one pink and one black—which she used to prop open the building’s entrance. Shortly after, she reappeared with the trunk, dragging it laboriously towards the exit.
At the trial in Paris, Benkired was denounced as a “monster devil” by the victim’s family. She was handed a life sentence for her atrocious acts. Notable individuals serving a similar sentence include Salah Abdeslam, a Belgian terrorist involved in the ISIS attack that claimed 130 lives in Paris in November 2015.