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 ‘his demons’, his wife said in court
The dad of a schoolgirl who was brutally raped and murdered by a 27-year-old woman ‘died of grief’ as a result of what happened, his 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 into a plastic box outside the Paris block of flats in which she and her family lived.
On Friday, Algerian-born Dahbia Benkired was ordered to serve life with a minimum of 30 years in prison after being found guilty of her rape, torture and murder. She is the first woman in French legal history to be handed a whole-life sentence.
The court heard that Benkired was thought to have carried out the attack as revenge for the girl’s caretaker mother refusing to give her a key to the complex.
A major political row developed in France after Benkired’s arrest in October 2022, when it emerged the 27-year-old had illegally overstayed her student visa. She had been given 30 days to leave the country after being stopped at a Paris airport in July the same year.
At the time, Lola’s mother Delphine and her father, Johan Daviet, denounced “any use of the name and image of [our] child for political ends”.
Mr Daviet died in February last year aged 49. Speaking in court on Wednesday, Lola’s devastated mother Delphine Daviet described how, after years of sobriety, he began drinking again the day his daughter was killed.
“He drank from morning to night,” she said. She said he “died of grief” and was devastated by “his demons”.
Before his death, he had hung a letter on the door of Benkired’s apartment that read: “My darling, I still don’t understand why there was so much cruelty and barbarity towards you, you who were so kind.
“I can’t wait to see you again,” the note continued, signed by: “Your dad, who loves you for life.”
Lola’s brother, Thibault Daviet, also spoke in court behalf of the whole family, including his late father. He said: “I would like to speak on behalf of the whole family… and of course my father, who is unfortunately no longer here because of the same person. We would like you to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to all of France and to us”.
CCTV images shown in court showed Benkired opening a suitcase containing the girl’s body while sitting at 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 sustained 38 wounds on her back and neck before dying from asphyxia, a doctor told the court.
As images of her injuries were shown to the court on day two of Benkired’s trial, the doctor said: “There is physical, psychological and moral suffering. Asphyxia is very anxiety-provoking, it goes beyond physical pain. There were probably one or more impacts to the head, which creates physical pain.”
Several family members were seen walking out of court as images of Lola’s injuries were shown. Lola was said to have sustained “visible traumatic injuries” to her genitals, and had a “large wound” on her face, a slashed back and head injuries.
On the day of the murder, Lola was seen entering the block of flats and talking to Benkired at around 3pm, before being taken into an apartment. Benkired allegedly dragged Lola’s body around 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 her first words to the Paris Assize Court she said: “What I did was horrible. I would like to ask the whole family for forgiveness. What I did was horrible and I regret it.”
She was sentenced on Friday to to life imprisonment, without possibility of early release.