In France, a woman sentenced to life in prison for rape, torture and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Paris

A woman who raped, tortured and murdered a 12-year-old girl in Paris three years ago was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

Dahbia Benkired, a 27-year-old Algerian woman, must serve at least 30 years in prison for her crimes against Lola Daviet, BFMTV reported. She is the first woman in France to receive this sentence, the most severe in the French penal code, added BFMTV.

In October 2022, Daviet’s body was found mutilated and locked in a plastic box in a common area outside the building where she lived, a press release from the Paris police prosecutor then specified.

The victim’s body was discovered just hours after he first disappeared, the statement said.

CCTV showed the schoolgirl entering her apartment building next to Benkired at 3:15 p.m. on the day she was murdered. Less than two hours later, the killer was seen leaving the building alone, carrying heavy luggage, according to the release.

Daviet died as a result of cardiorespiratory failure with signs of asphyxia and cervical compression, according to the police prosecutor’s press release.

She had multiple other injuries, “notably to her face, back and large cuts to her neck, which did not play a role in her death according to the coroner’s findings on the cause of her death,” the police statement said.

Benkired told police she drove Daviet to her sister’s apartment, which was in the same building where the victim lived, according to the release.

There, according to the statement, she said she forced the girl to take a shower before “committing sexual assault and other violence against her which resulted in her death,” before hiding the child’s body in the plastic box.

In court on Friday, Benkired said his crimes were “horrible,” asking for forgiveness before deliberations, BFMTV reported.

In a statement after the murderer’s conviction, Lola Daviet’s brother thanked French justice for Benkired’s conviction, saying his family was “satisfied with the response we received”, BFMTV reported. The victim’s mother added that this was the case “even if it would not give us back our Lola”, adds the media.

Clotilde Lepetit, lawyer for Daviet’s family, welcomed a “just decision, based on reason, humanity, truth and memory”, according to BFMTV.

“We restored the memory of this young girl. We restored a broken truth,” she said, according to the media outlet.

Alexandre Valois, Benkired’s lawyer, said Friday’s verdict was not a surprise. The murderer has not yet decided whether or not he will appeal his conviction, he told journalists, according to BFMTV.