A FEMALE migrant who has confessed to torturing, raping and brutally murdering a schoolgirl made a chilling admission in court today.
Algerian migrant Dahbia Benkired, now aged 27, is accused of the horrifying murder of 12-year-old Lola Daviet in a case that rocked France three years ago.
Speaking in court today, she said: “I know I killed a baby, an angel.”
Benkired is said to have raped and slashed Lola, before partially splitting her skull and slowly suffocating her to death in Paris three years ago.
On Monday – the second day of the trial – Benkired spoke for the first time about the murder, blaming it on drugs.
She told the Paris Assizes that she had taken Lyrica – a medication used for the treatment of neuropathic pain, epilepsy, and anxiety disorders.
Benkired said she was using it to try and cope with the psychological pain of being a street prostitute.
She claimed: “To tell you the truth, the day before, I had taken three Lyrica tablets, and that’s what put me in this state. The next day, I lost it.”
When asked by the judge why she had not offered this version of events before, Benkired replied: “I know I killed a baby, an angel. She must be in heaven by now.”
Asked if the drugs had prompted her to rape and kill, Benkired replied: “Yes.”
Pressed to explain herself further, Benkired replied: “I don’t know, I wasn’t myself.”
Benkired is said to have abducted Lola from the lobby of the apartment block in which she lived in the French capital.
Although Benkired has confessed to the grisly crimes, prosecutors still have to prove the case against her, in line with French law.
They allege Benkired slashed Lola’s throat with scissors and a box cutter before taping her face with duct tape, which led to her death because she was unable to breathe.
During Monday’s court session, lawyers for Lola’s mother asked a forensic pathologist whether Lola would have suffered at the end, saying they had been “plagued by the question”.
The expert replied: ‘Asphyxia is very anxiety-inducing. There are three aspects – physical, psychological, and emotional suffering.
“Not being able to get oxygen is a significant and intense source of anxiety. She undoubtedly suffered.”
A photo of 39 wounds identified on Lola’s body was shown in the court to support the forensic pathologist’s argument.
The image was shown on a screen, and prompted many to leave the court – but her immediate family members remained.
Benkired was, meanwhile, stared at the screen without showing any emotion.
At the opening of the trial on Friday, Benkired apologised for her “horrible actions” after admitting raping, torturing and murdering Lola.
She was arrested after Lola’s body was found in a trunk near the Paris apartment building where the young girl lived with her mother and father, who work as caretakers.
The case has become a political one in France because Benkired, who was born in Algeria, had no right to remain in France.
She had been issued with an order to leave the country two months previously.
Lola had walked a few hundred yards from school and arrived at her home in the 19th arrondissement of Paris just after 3pm on Friday 14 October 2022.
Video surveillance records Benkired, who was homeless and unemployed but staying at her sister’s flat in the building, meeting Lola just after 3pm.
Lola’s parents raised the alarm when their daughter did not arrive home.
An hour-and-a-half later, Benkired was filmed in the entrance hallway of the building surrounded by suitcases including a large trunk.
Benkired was examined by psychiatrists and judged able to stand trial.
She has been held in Fresnes prison, south of Paris, for the last three years.
Éric Pauget, of France’s Republican party, said in parliament that Lola had been killed as a result of France’s “weak immigration policies”.
Unlike in the UK, where a guilty plea leads to sentencing, French law requires a full trial before the Cour D’assises – the chamber that hears the most serious cases – rules.
Even when a defendant confesses – as Benkired did – the trial proceeds to determine not only guilt but also motive, intent and circumstances.
Benkired’s trial continues until Friday, when a verdict is expected.
