A father whose 12-year-old daughter, Lola Daviet, was raped, tortured and murdered by a woman began drinking the day she was killed and was devastated by “her demons”, his wife has told court.
The father of a schoolgirl who was brutally raped and murdered by a 27-year-old woman “died of grief” as a result of what happened, her family has claimed.
Just hours after she was reported missing in October 2022, the body of 12-year-old Lola Daviet was found mutilated and stuffed in a plastic box outside the Paris apartment block where she and her family lived.
On Friday, Algerian-born Dahbia Benkired received a life sentence with a minimum of 30 years in prison after being found guilty of rape, torture and murder. She is the first woman in the history of French law sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court heard that Benkired was thought to have carried out the attack as revenge for the girl’s carer mother’s refusal to give her a key to the complex.
A major political dispute developed in France after Benkired’s arrest in October 2022, when it emerged that the 27-year-old had illegally overstayed her student visa. She had been given 30 days to leave the country after being detained at a Paris airport in July of the same year.
At that time, Lola’s mother, Delphine, and her father, Johan Daviet, denounced “any use of Lola’s name and image.” [our] child for political purposes”.
Daviet died in February last year at the age of 49. Speaking in court on Wednesday, Lola’s devastated mother, Delphine Daviet, described how, after years of sobriety, she began drinking again on the day her daughter was killed.
“I drank from morning until night,” he said. He said he “died of grief” and was devastated by “his demons.”
Before her death, she had hung a letter on the door of Benkired’s apartment that read: “Dear, I still don’t understand why there was so much cruelty and barbarity towards you, who were so kind.
“I can’t wait to see you again,” the note continued, signed: “Your dad, who loves you for life.”
Lola’s brother, Thibault Daviet, also spoke in court on behalf of the entire family, including their late father. He said: “I would like to speak on behalf of the whole family… and of course my father, who unfortunately is no longer here because of the same person. We would like him to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to all of France and to us.”
CCTV footage shown in court showed Benkired opening a suitcase containing the girl’s body while sitting in a busy Paris bar hours after the murder.
According to authorities, the numbers ‘1’ and ‘0’ were mysteriously written on the victim’s feet. Lola suffered 38 wounds to her back and neck before dying from asphyxiation, a doctor told the court.
As pictures of his injuries were shown to the court on the second day of Benkired’s trial, the doctor said: “There is physical, psychological and moral suffering. Asphyxiation causes a lot of anxiety, it goes beyond physical pain. There were probably one or more impacts to the head, which causes physical pain.”
Several family members were seen leaving the court as images of Lola’s injuries were shown. Lola was said to have suffered “visible traumatic injuries” to her genitals and had a “large gash” to her face, a cut to her back and head injuries.
On the day of the murder, Lola was seen entering the block of flats and speaking to Benkired at around three in the afternoon, before being taken to an apartment. Benkired allegedly dragged Lola’s body through Paris in a plastic box, before dumping it on the street, where it was found by a homeless man.
As the trial began on October 17, Benkired asked for forgiveness and in his first words before the Paris Criminal Court said: “What I did was horrible. I would like to apologize to the whole family. What I did was horrible and I regret it.”
She was sentenced on Friday to life in prison, with no possibility of early release.
