France Sentences Algerian Woman to Life for Torture, Murder of 12-Year-Old Lola

In a landmark ruling, a Paris court sentenced Dahbia Benkired, a 27-year-old Algerian woman living illegally in France, to life imprisonment without the possibility of early release for the rape, torture, and murder of 12-year-old Lola Daviet in 2022. The court emphasized the extreme cruelty of the crime and the profound psychological damage inflicted on the victim and her family, highlighting that Benkired's chaotic life did not justify such unbridled hatred. Lola was lured into an apartment in her building, where she was raped, attacked with scissors and a box cutter, and ultimately suffocated with duct tape; her body was later found in a trunk in the building's courtyard. Psychiatric evaluations described Benkired as psychopathic but sane, with no treatable mental illness, and the court unanimously handed down the maximum sentence, making her the first woman in France to receive an irreducible life sentence. The case sparked political debate, with right-wing groups focusing on Benkired's immigration status, while Lola's family condemned the exploitation of the tragedy for political purposes. The sentence places Benkired among France's most notorious criminals and underscores the severity with which French justice treats such heinous crimes.