France faces outrage over the murder of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl, after it was revealed that the main suspect had been previously accused of child sexual abuse.
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“It is clear that there has been a malfunction,” President Emmanuel Macron declared in Montenegro, where he was attending a European summit. “It is unacceptable.”
The president added that he had urged Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s administration to investigate what happened during a cabinet meeting this Friday, June 5.
The minor, identified in the press only as Lyhanna, disappeared on May 29 near the town of Fleurance, in the southwest of the country, after being last seen getting into a man’s car.
After several days of searching in the area, investigators found the body of a girl wearing the same clothes as her in an abandoned silo on Thursday.
After the autopsy, the Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the next day that it was the body of the missing minor.
A 41-year-old man, father of two children, whose daughter was Lyhanna’s schoolmate, has been arrested as the main suspect.
Incomprehension has grown throughout the country after it became known that the suspect had been formally accused on two previous occasions of raping a minor, but the investigations had been shelved or stalled.
According to his team, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin was scheduled to convene all prosecutors in Paris next Monday, June 8.
Prosecutor Clemence Meyer listed the previous complaints against the suspect on Wednesday.
In December 2017, a mother reported that her 17-year-old daughter was in a relationship with the man. The case was closed in 2018 after the young woman declared consent.
In January 2022, a complaint accused him of raping a 15-year-old minor in 2020 at his home in southwestern France. The case was dismissed in 2024 due to lack of evidence.
In a third case, on August 22, 2025, the mother of a girl born in 2014 accused him of raping her daughter between September 2024 and May 2025 at his home, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
However, the police had not yet questioned him when 11-year-old Lyhanna disappeared nine months later.
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Former Prime Minister and candidate for the Presidency of France, Gabrielle Attal, joined the questioning, stating that what happened “calls into question” the entire French judicial system.
“Lyhanna’s tragic death is unbearable. It calls into question the entire system, all child protection measures, and the importance given to children’s voices. My thoughts are with Lyhanna’s family and all the outraged parents in France, consumed by anguish and heartbroken by this death that could have been avoided. The administrative investigation must fully clarify the shortcomings that led to this tragedy. And changes, necessarily radical ones, must be implemented,” Attal declared via his social media.
The mayor of Fleurance, Gregory Bobbato, stated on Thursday that there were serious irregularities in how the investigations were conducted. “Should we always wait for irrefutable evidence before taking steps to protect our children?”
Denis Roth-Fichet, from the independent CIVIISE commission, which investigates child sexual abuse, stated that the case illustrates a much broader problem.
He indicated that investigations were shelved in almost three out of four complaints of alleged child sexual abuse.
According to CIVIISE, only 7% of complaints of child sexual assault and 3% of child rape complaints result in a conviction.
Candidates for next year’s presidential elections have also spoken out on the matter.
Centrist candidate Edouard Philippe called on Thursday for investigations to be accelerated to better protect children.
“When a minor’s testimony is collected or reported, why isn’t the entire state apparatus immediately put on alert?” he asked.
Far-right candidate Jordan Bardella, who leads the polls and will run if Marine Le Pen is disqualified, stated that the crime “could – and should – have been avoided.”
Anne-Cecile Mailfert, from the activist group Women’s Foundation, stated earlier this week that the judicial system is failing to protect minors, even when a young child has the courage to report and file a complaint with their parents.
“The system is not working,” she stated.
Michele Creoff, from the Union for Childhood association, also expressed outrage.
“Did anyone check this man’s computer? The websites he visits?” she asked.
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