Girl’s murder forces reckoning with backlog of child sexual violence cases in France

A man with three prior complaints of sexual violence against minors, including one filed in August 2025 that was never investigated, has been charged with the rape and murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna, found in a grain silo in Gers in June.

An audit prompted by the case uncovered a backlog of 85,047 unaddressed complaints of sexual violence against minors, along with thousands of 'phantom cases' that police never forwarded to prosecutors and so were never officially recorded.

Advocates including Muriel Salmona and CIIVISE's Denis Roth-Fichet say the systemic failures were flagged years ago, in some cases nearly two decades ago. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has called a September meeting to address inter-agency communication, while lawyers describe survivors facing delays of up to a decade and secondary trauma from unexplained case dismissals.

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