Lola Daviet case: Dahbia Benkired receives France’s harshest sentence after Paris court’s verdict

The case that traumatized France reached a decisive end on Friday, October 24, 2025, when a Paris criminal court sentenced Dahbia Benkired to perpétuité incompressible for the rape, torture, and murder of Lola Daviet, 12. It is the maximum penalty in French law—an “irreducible” life term that forecloses ordinary parole possibilities and is imposed only in the gravest circumstances. The ruling closes a week of wrenching testimony and expert examinations that revisited the events of October 14, 2022, when Lola was killed in the 19th arrondissement.

What the court found in the Lola Daviet murder

Jurors and professional magistrates concluded that Benkired lured Lola to an apartment in the family’s building, assaulted and killed her, and attempted to conceal the body. Surveillance images, forensic evidence, and witnesses formed the backbone of the case. Throughout the proceedings, the defense raised questions about Benkired’s mental state; multiple psychiatric experts acknowledged serious personality disorders but maintained she retained legal responsibility at the time of the crime. The court’s sentence reflects that conclusion.

The verdict also aligns with the prosecution’s call for the most severe sanction available, citing the crime’s extreme cruelty, the victim’s age, and the lasting harm to the family and community.

What “perpétuité incompressible” means for Dahbia Benkired

• Maximum severity: This punishment is reserved for exceptional crimes (often involving the murder of a child with aggravating factors).

• No ordinary parole track: Unlike standard life terms, this sentence is not subject to the usual progressive sentence reductions or parole timelines.

• Narrow relief mechanisms: Only extraordinary procedures—medical grounds or exceptional judicial review—can alter the term, and those paths are exceedingly rare.

In practical terms, Benkired faces life imprisonment without a realistic prospect of release.

A trial that stirred grief, anger, and national debate

From opening statements, the courtroom balanced two difficult tasks: reconstructing the facts and managing the emotional aftershocks. Family members described a bright, creative child whose absence fractured their lives; friends and neighbors recounted the hours of fear and confusion that followed her disappearance. The defense’s portrait of Benkired’s life—migration, instability, prior trauma—did not move the panel away from full criminal culpability.

Outside the courtroom, the case continued to reverberate. It became a flashpoint in arguments over deportation orders, public safety, and social services—sometimes in ways the family asked observers to avoid. The court’s judgment, however, stayed anchored to the specific facts and legal standards before it: the killing of a child with acts of torture and sexual violence.

What comes next: appeals, civil damages, and remembrance

• Appeal window: Benkired’s team can file an appeal to have the case retried by a new assize court. If lodged, the second trial would again examine both guilt and sentence.

• Civil awards: The court also addressed civil claims from the family; any appeals would revisit those as well.

• Commemoration: Schools and community groups in Paris and beyond have used the verdict week to honor Lola’s memory with moments of silence, art projects, and support drives for child protection charities.

Why this verdict matters beyond one courtroom

The Lola Daviet case will be studied in French criminal law for its use of the harshest sentence, for the handling of complex psychiatric testimony, and for the court’s attempts to wall off political currents in order to preserve a fair trial. It underscores three wider truths:

1. Child victims and aggravating factors can trigger the most severe penalties in the code, but the bar remains high and fact-intensive.

2. Psychiatric assessment can illuminate motive and risk without removing legal responsibility, a distinction that courts must draw carefully.

3. Public grief and policy debates often travel together; the justice system’s mandate is narrower—establish facts, apply law, protect due process.

A note on language and dignity

Reporting on crimes against children risks either sensationalism or euphemism. The court record is blunt about what happened to Lola. The community response—quiet vigils, school projects, private remembrances—points to a different register: love, solidarity, and a determination that a child’s name be linked to care rather than spectacle.

Key facts at a glance

• Victim: Lola Daviet, 12

• Defendant: Dahbia Benkired, 27 at trial

• Crime date: October 14, 2022 (Paris 19e)

• Verdict and sentence: Guilty; perpétuité incompressible on October 24, 2025

• Appeal: Possible within the statutory window

As legal steps conclude or continue on appeal, the essential point remains unchanged: a child’s life, cherished and irreplaceable, now binds a community in remembrance and a justice system to vigilance.