Body of 11-year-old Lyhanna found; suspect had two prior rape cases dropped — Darmanin cites judicial chain failure
The body of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old from Fleurance in the Gers who went missing on May 29, was found Thursday in an abandoned silo; the 41-year-old suspect, a father of two whose daughter attended the same school, had twice been formally accused of child rape — proceedings that were dropped or stalled — and was under a third active rape investigation at the time of her disappearance. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin described the judicial chain's failures as 'terrifying,' promised to publish administrative inquiry results and take 'sanctions,' and acknowledged that France systematically fails to take children's words seriously. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu cancelled a scheduled prison visit and convened an emergency meeting at Matignon, summoning his ministers of justice, interior, and public accounts.
Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl from Fleurance in the Gers département of southwest France, disappeared on May 29 after being last seen climbing into a man's car. Her body was discovered Thursday in an abandoned silo in the region. A 41-year-old father of two — whose daughter was a classmate of Lyhanna's — has been detained as the key suspect.
The suspect's judicial record is central to the political crisis that followed. He had twice been the subject of formal accusations of child rape, in proceedings that were either dropped or allowed to stall. Multiple young girls and their families had filed prior complaints against him, including rape allegations. At the time Lyhanna vanished, he was already under a third, still-active police investigation for alleged rape.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin appeared publicly Thursday and said he was 'terrified' by what he called a 'dysfunction' throughout the judicial chain. He pledged to publish the results of administrative inquiries and to impose 'sanctions.' In an unusually direct admission, Darmanin acknowledged the case reveals 'our poor organisation and, without doubt, the fact that at the Justice Ministry and elsewhere, we don't take the words of children seriously.' He identified specific procedural failures: the time taken to transfer casework between jurisdictions, the use of paper rather than electronic transmission, and apparent non-compliance with police orders.
The case reached national level on June 3 when deputy David Taupiac from the Gers publicly questioned Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez in the National Assembly. Nuñez announced a double administrative inquiry — one covering the justice side, one the gendarmerie — to identify 'possible dysfunctions.' His initial public response was notably cautious.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu cancelled a planned visit to the Vendin-le-Vieil prison, converting the slot into an emergency Lyhanna 'situation point' at Matignon on Thursday evening. He summoned Darmanin, Interior Minister David Amiel and the Minister of Public Accounts to review the budgets and operations of the two ministries. After a two-hour meeting, Lecornu walked Darmanin to the Matignon entrance for a handshake — a visible gesture of political support for his minister as public anger mounted.
The case arrived alongside a figure published by LFI deputy Manuel Bompard the previous day: more than 70 percent of child violence complaints in France are dismissed without prosecution. That statistic had already drawn criticism before the Lyhanna announcement and framed the political response as reaching beyond a single case into a systemic question about how French institutions handle reports of violence against children.