The day had been mostly gloomy in Paris, just an hour or so of sun in a deluge of rain.
And it was about to get darker, literally and figuratively, across the City of Light but particularly in Butte-Chaumont or the 19th arrondissement, on the right bank of the River Seine.
Around 4:30 p.m., on Oct. 14, 2022, a father became deeply panicked when his pretty 12-year-old daughter failed to arrive home from school and called the police. The girl’s name was Lola Daviet.
SICKENING TALE
As caretaker of the building, her father, Johan Daviet, scoured the CCTV footage. There was Lola, entering the building at 3:20 p.m. She was following a woman Johan believed to be Dahbia Benkired.
Later, Benkired was seen leaving and hauling a travel trunk and other luggage.
A small army of cops and volunteers scoured the neighbourhood desperately searching for Lola. Around 11:30 p.m., a homeless man discovered the travel trunk in the building’s basement. Inside was the lifeless body of Lola Daviet.
Homicide detectives quickly zeroed in on the woman in the CCTV, and when they caught up to Benkired, a 24-year-old prostitute, she told a sickening tale of depravity.
The illegal Algerian immigrant who had previously been ordered out of France (the removal was never followed up) told investigators that she had lured Lola into her sister’s apartment. There, she ordered the frightened girl to strip naked and shower.
RAPED AND NEARLY DECAPITATED
Evil Benkired then raped the young French girl and forced her to perform cunnilingus on her before covering the girl’s face with adhesive tape. An autopsy revealed that Lola died from asphyxiation. In addition, the girl was stabbed numerous times.
In a final, twisted touch, the girl was nearly decapitated.
***
Three days after the brutal murder that left France reeling, detectives arrested Dahbia Benkired. She was indicted on charges of “murder of a minor under 15” and “rape with torture and acts of barbarism.”
The stunning-looking young woman had been born in Algeria and arrived on a student visa in France in May 2016. As Canadians will attest, student visas are frequently overstayed, and that’s what Benkired did. Her only previous interaction with cops was as a domestic violence victim in 2018.
In the days leading up to the murder, she lived with a pal and later with her sister in the same apartment building as the Daviet family. Her sister later told cops that Benkind had been making incoherent statements.
30 DAYS TO LEAVE
But what likely triggered her ire was Lola’s mother topredoing a request from Benkind to enter the apartment on her own.
Two months before the murder, the troubled young woman had been detained at the city’s Orly Airport. She didn’t have a plane ticket or a valid ID. As a result, she was given 30 days to leave France.
In yet another Canadian twist, the sadistic Benkired did not present herself for removal at the proscribed date and time, and three weeks later, Lola Daviet was dead.
France was already a powder keg over mass immigration, particularly from Muslim countries, as a result of a slew of deadly terror attacks. When it emerged that Benkired was an illegal immigrant who should not have been in France, protesters took to the streets.
“Lola lost her life because you didn’t expel this national,” said Republican Minister of Parliament Éric Pauget to the justice minister.
‘I WAS RAPED TOO’
Following her arrest, detectives began drilling down on Dahbia Benkired. During moments of clarity, she accepted responsibility; at other times, she insisted it was a dream. She blamed the murder on ghosts, strangers and others.
When one cop showed her a crime scene photo of Lola’s defiled body, Benkired was unmoved.
She said: “That leaves me indifferent. I was raped too, and I saw my parents die in front of me”.
And then she admitted that her motivation for murder was the dispute with Lola’s mother.
***
The week-long trial began in Paris on Oct. 20. France’s nightmare was far from over, as the court was shown gruesome photos of Lola’s tortured and mutilated body. In addition, there were injuries to the girl’s genitals and a large wound across her face.
At one point during the trial, her mother, Delphine, asked a forensic pathologist whether Lola had suffered at the hands of her sinister killer.
“She undoubtedly suffered,” the pathologist sadly responded.
‘THIS MONSTER’
And there was another casualty: Lola’s father, Johan Daviet, drank himself to death, dying in February 2024. He was 49.
Delphine lambasted Benkind as “this thing, this monster.” For her part, the killer asked the little girl’s family for forgiveness, but they wanted vengeance. If they could have brought back the guillotine, they would have.
“I would like to ask the whole family for forgiveness. What I did was horrible and I regret it,” Benkired said in court, according to Le Parisien.
The former prostitute was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Oct. 24. It was the first such sentence for a woman in France. In Canada, she’d be out in 10.
‘UNSPEAKABLE’
“In determining the appropriate sentence, the court took into account the unspeakable psychological damage to the victim and her family in such violent and almost unspeakable circumstances,” said the judge following sentencing.
A refreshing view from a judge. Supreme Court of Canada? You listening?
@HunterTOSun
