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Around France there is grief and outrage.
The murder of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl from Fleurance in south-west France, sent a shockwave across the country.
Hundreds and thousands of people gatherings in front of courthouses in more than 150 towns and cities to send a deliberate message. This tragedy is seen as a failure of a system that could have protected Lyhanna and many other victims but did not.
“It’s not a failure of one court, one judge or one prosecutor – it’s the entire system that needs to be reconsidered,” says Virginie Bordeaux, an activist of a child rights association, Collectif Enfantiste, who co-organised the rally in Lyon.
The girl disappeared at the end of May. Six days later, she was found dead on a nearby farm.
The main suspect is Jérôme Barella, a 41-year-old parent of another pupil at Lyhanna’s school. She was last seen getting into his car.
It later emerged that Barella had already been the subject of multiple reports and complaints for sexual violence against minors, going back years.
Last August, a complaint was filed against him for the repeated rape of a 10-year-old girl. In the nine months that followed, he was never detained. He was never even questioned. The paperwork moved slowly through the system until it was too late for Lyhanna.
A symptom of a broken system, say activists.
“All the groups and organisations have been shouting this from the rooftops for years,” says Chloé, a young woman who came to attend the rally.
“Our children aren’t being protected. For months and months, loads of mums have been filing complaints, loads of parents have been filing complaints, and the mums are being left in the lurch, not even being listened to, not even being defended.”
Only after the girl’s body was found was Barella detained and placed under formal investigation. With further complaints now filed, he is linked to at least nine separate cases involving sexual violence against underage girls.
Many in France are outraged.
“Stop, enough is enough, we’re fed up with lenient justice,” says Louis, a middle-aged man holding a message “Je suis Lyhanna” (I am Lyhanna).
“If the little girl who was raped by that monster back in August, when her mum filed a complaint, had that complaint been taken seriously, little Lyhanna would still be alive today,” says Virginie. “And now, heads must roll. The justice system must change its ways. Because we cannot accept this.”
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin publicly apologised to the family, acknowledging that the suspect should have been dealt with sooner. French prosecutors have been ordered to review all pending complaints involving child victims – around 70,000 cases – by 14 July.
These rallies are demanding answers. How could a man reported multiple times for sexual violence remain free until a child was killed and what must change to ensure it never happens again?
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