The trial of Dahbia Benkired, accused of the rape, murder, and torture of 12-year-old Lola in 2022, opened on Friday before the Paris Assize Court, in the presence of the victim’s family who wants to know why Lola died. The accused, who asked for forgiveness, never clearly explained the motive for her crime.
The trial of Dahbia Benkired for the rape and murder accompanied by acts of torture three years ago of Lola, a 12-year-old Parisian teenager, opened this Friday before the Paris Assize Court.
Seated on the bench of the civil parties, the family and friends of the victim, with somber faces, wore T-shirts printed with a drawing of the face of a blonde, smiling child with big eyes: «You were the sunshine of our lives, you will be the star of our nights». As the accused entered the box, and as she gave her identity, one of the teenager’s relatives burst into tears before leaving the room for a moment.
At the opening of the proceedings, Lola’s mother stepped forward with her son to address the accused directly: «On behalf of the entire family,» including her deceased father in 2024, «we would like you to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to all of France and to us,» the young man said.
After listening to the facts without apparent expression, Dahbia Benkired, on the other hand, asked for forgiveness to the entire family. «It’s horrible what I did. I regret it,» she assured in her first statement.
With a fixed gaze, sometimes turned towards the court, sometimes into the void, an impassive face, she listened to the unbearable story of October 14, 2022, and the elements of the investigation, read by the president in a dead silence: how the child, terrified, followed her without resistance into the apartment of the accused’s sister, the atrocious suffering inflicted on her until her murder, her breathing blocked by tape, her body placed in a trunk.
«I brought her with me, I taped her, I killed her. And that’s it,» this Algerian national, who was subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) at the time of the crime, had said during her confession in police custody.
The motive for this crime, which Dahbia Benkired has never explained, will be at the center of the debates, which are expected to last six days until the verdict on October 24. She mentioned a pass for an elevator that Lola’s mother had refused her, explained that she saw Lola as a ghost, or invoked the influence of djinns.
This heinous crime had shocked public opinion and sparked a political storm due to Dahbia Benkired’s irregular presence on the territory at the time of the crime.
Before the opening of the proceedings, about fifteen activists from the Nemesis identitarian collective unfurled a banner in front of the courthouse: «OQTF not enforced. I don’t want to be the next one.»
Six months after the presidential election, Eric Zemmour’s party had denounced a «francocide,» organized a demonstration, and bought the names «ManifPourLola.fr» or «JusticePourLola.fr». The teenage girl’s family had requested that her name no longer be used.
L’accusée, qui a présenté des excuses, n’a jamais donné une explication claire du mobile de son crime. L’accusée, malgré sa demande de pardon, n’a jamais clarifié le mobile de son crime.
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