France has been left in shock after evidence detailing the brutal killing of a 12-year-old schoolgirl was brought to court.
Algerian Dahbia Benkired, 27, stands accused of sexually assaulting, torturing and murdering Lola Daviet in Paris on October 4, 2022.
The Assize Court, France’s highest criminal court, heard that Benkired should have been deported from the country before she allegedly killed the child.
Ms Benkired had been subject to a deportation order in August 2022 after overstaying her student visa – merely two months before Lola’s death.
The defendant – homeless and unemployed – had initially arrived in France in 2013 at age 14.
Prosecutors say the attack was motivated by revenge after Lola’s mother, who worked as a caretaker, refused to provide Ms Benkired with access to an apartment building.
Disturbing photographs shown to jurors on Friday showed the child’s body compressed inside a plastic box, with her limbs bound by adhesive tape and her face entirely wrapped in the material.
The court was told the victim sustained extensive injuries including a large facial wound, partial decapitation and lacerations to her back.
Dahbia Benkired stands accused of sexually assaulting, torturing and murdering Lola Daviet (pictured) in Paris
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Medical examination confirmed the child had been subjected to sexual assault while she was still alive.
Ms Benkired intercepted Lola on her way home from school around 3pm, luring her into a flat within the building where the girl’s parents worked.
Prosecutors said the child was told to remove her clothing, wash, then to perform a sex act on the migrant “for her pleasure”.
The court heard that Ms Benkired suffocated her with adhesive tape, causing asphyxiation, before abandoning the container on the street where a homeless individual discovered it around 11pm.
PICTURED: Dahbia Benkired ‘leads Lola Daviet into an apartment block’
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BFMTV
Images of Lola’s naked body inside the box were shown to the court, prompting her family to walk out.
CCTV footage caught Ms Benkired departing the building at 5pm, while transporting luggage and the weighted container concealed beneath a blanket.
She reportedly told a person at cafe who questioned her suspicious cargo that she was “selling a kidney”.
The defendant subsequently persuaded an acquaintance to bring her and the container to his home before returning by taxi to the alleged crime scene.
Police found bloodstained scissors, an oyster knife and an IKEA knife at Ms Benkired’s residence during their investigation.
She was apprehended the following day after fleeing when officers arrived at the scene.
The Daviet family appeared in court wearing white shirts bearing their daughter’s image and the message: “You were the sun of our life, you will be the star of our nights.”
Lola’s mother Delphine demanded “justice” whilst her brother Thibault spoke for the family, including their late father “who is unfortunately no longer here because of the same person”.
Johan Daviet is said to have become an alcoholic and separated from his wife after the death of his daughter.
Thibault urged Ms Benkired to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to all of France and to us”.
The Daviet family appeared in court wearing white shirts bearing their daughter’s image
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GETTY
She replied: “I would like to ask the whole family for forgiveness. What I did was horrible and I regret it”.
Benkired could receive life imprisonment if found guilty, with the trial scheduled to conclude next Friday.
After her visa history was revealed in 2022, right-wing French politicians blamed President Emmanuel Macron for Lola’s death.
Hard-right Eric Zemmour, as a result, coined the term “Francocide” to describe the murder of a French person.
