Mother sues French state over daughter's neglected rape case as public anger grows

The mother of a 10-year-old girl, who filed a complaint in 2025 against Jérôme Barella for the rape of a minor, will bring a lawsuit against the French state for gross negligence, and against the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, her lawyer Pierre Debuisson told RTL radio on Tuesday.

She has criticised the justice system for its slow handling of her complaint.

The lawyer said two legal proceedings would be undertaken: a claim against the state for gross negligence before the civil court, and a criminal case.

Barella is the main suspect in the murder of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old middle school student who went missing after school on 29 May in her hometown of Fleurance, north-west of Toulouse.

Her body was discovered a week later in a disused grain silo 15 kilometres from home.

The 41-year-old, father of one of Lyhanna's classmates, was arrested on evidence that he had been seen with her on the afternoon she disappeared.

Nationwide demonstrations
The case sparked outrage after officials revealed he had been accused in several cases involving young girls.

The most serious was in August 2025, when a mother filed a complaint alleging that Barella had raped her 10-year-old daughter several times between September 2024 and May 2025 at his home.

Despite medical evidence supporting the accusation, the suspect had still not been questioned by police by the time Lyhanna went missing nine months later.

"This investigation was ongoing at the time of Lyhanna's disappearance," said Auch prosecutor Clémence Meyer at a press briefing last week, while being unable to say what investigations the gendarmes had actually carried out in the four months between the end of January and the schoolgirl's disappearance.

French prosecutors ordered to review all child abuse complaints after girl's murder

The Lyhanna case has sparked controversy over the effectiveness of the fight against child sexual abuse in the country and the resources allocated to the justice system.

More than 60,000 people demonstrated on Monday evening in numerous French cities, including nearly 3,000 in Paris, to express their anger following the murder.

President Emmanuel Macron has condemned as "unacceptable" the lapses in the authorities' handling of the case, while Darmanin has acknowledged a "terrible failure of the state and of the justice system".

Summoning all state prosecutors to Paris on Monday, Darmanin instructed them to review 70,000 ongoing allegations of violence against minors by 14 July "as an absolute priority".

He reiterated that sanctions would be imposed following these "extremely serious failings". An inspection, involving the judiciary, the gendarmerie and the national education system, has been launched, and its findings are expected on 19 June.

Cross-party bill to be examined
In a further development, Yaël Braun-Pivet, the head of the National Assembly, called on Monday for a "comprehensive", cross-party bill on gender-based and sexual violence, stalled for months, to be placed on parliament's agenda.

The bill "provides solutions that cover all areas: justice, security, the home (...) sport and education", Braun-Pivet said of the text, signed by roughly 100 lawmakers, adding that the fight must be waged "on all fronts".

Meanwhile, the High Council of the Judiciary (CSM), the body that guarantees the independence of the judicial authority in France, on Tuesday deplored the "discredit cast upon thousands of magistrates", responding to criticism of the judicial handling of the Lyhanna case.

France weighs tougher safeguards against child abuse in schools

The CSM said that "despite significant efforts made recently, the justice system does not benefit from a budget commensurate with the ever-increasing scope of its missions and the multiple emergencies it has to deal with".

While both Macron and Darmanin have pre-emptively dismissed talk of budgetary or staffing constraints as a factor in the authorities' failure to protect Lyhanna, experts say decades of under-investment in the judiciary have left it ill-equipped to tackle cases in which speed is of the essence.

"Per capita spending on the justice system in France is among the lowest in Europe," said Carine Durrieu Diebolt, a lawyer representing victims of sexual violence, including children.

The Prime Minister was expected to meet members of his government on Tuesday morning to decide on new measures for the protection of children and against sexual violence.

(with newswires)