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PARIS: An Algerian woman apologized for her “horrible” actions Friday as she went on trial accused of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl in Paris, in a case that sparked horror in France and was seized by the far right.
Dahbia Benkired, now aged 27, was detained after Lola Daviet went missing in the northeast of the French capital three years ago. The girl’s body was then found in a trunk in the lobby of the building where her father and mother worked as caretakers.
Conservative and far-right politicians seized on the case to call for better immigration law enforcement, after Benkired was found to have overstayed a student visa and failed to comply with a notice to leave France.
The victim’s mother has urged politicians to stop exploiting her daughter’s death.
On Friday, the girl’s family sat in court, wearing white T-shirts with a picture of a smiling child and the words: “You were the sun of our life, you will be the star of our nights.”
“I am waiting for justice to be done,” said Lola’s mother Delphine Daviet.
One woman in her fifties broke down in tears when the defendant entered the dock.
“I apologize to the whole family,” Benkired said in a monotone. “It’s horrible what I did. I regret it.”
She was found competent to stand trial.

- ‘Selling a kidney’ -

Although experts who evaluated Benkired’s mental health noted her “manipulative behavior” they said she did not suffer from any “major psychiatric disorder.”
One of the victim’s brothers, Thibaut Daviet, urged the accused to tell “all the truth and nothing but the truth.”
Building residents saw Benkired in the lobby of the apartment block in the 19th district on October 14, 2022, carrying suitcases and a heavy trunk covered in a blanket, the investigation showed.
An hour and a half earlier, security footage showed Benkired approaching the girl as she returned from school, then leading her into the flat her sister occupied in the building.
Benkired raped and hit the schoolgirl with scissors and a box cutter, then bound her up in duct tape, including around her face, leading to her death by asphyxia.
She placed the body in a trunk and exited the building, pausing outside a cafe, where she told a client who suspected something strange in her luggage that she was “selling a kidney,” investigators said.
She then convinced a friend to drive her and the bags to his home, before taking a taxi with the trunk back to the building where her sister lived. She fled when she saw police deployed in the area, but was arrested the next day.

- ‘Twenty joints a day’ -

In court, Benkired described growing up in a dysfunctional family, a childhood spent between Algeria and France, unloving aunts and a violent father.
She mentioned sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of a neighbor when she was 14, or “men who came to her aunts’ house” in Algeria.
She settled in France in 2013 but had no stable job or residence.
Encouraged by her drug dealer boyfriend, she turned to prostitution and smoked cannabis.
“Twenty joints a day, it made me feel good,” she said.
After a pause, she started smoking heavily again the week before the crime, she said.
According to a personality assessment seen by AFP, the death of her mother in 2020 had been a “turning point,” with her life beginning to unravel.
She told investigators she had been angry with the girl’s mother, who had refused to give her an entry badge for the building, after her sister had given her a key to her flat.
The probe showed she had conducted searches online into witchcraft days before the murder.
Benkired, whose trial is to last until next Friday, faces a maximum sentence of life in jail.
Ahead of the trial, anti-immigration activists unfurled a banner in front of the courthouse reading “I don’t want to be next.”
Members of extreme-right group, Les Natifs, filmed themselves tagging a nearby pavement with the words “Immigration kills our wives, our mothers and our sisters.”

NEW DELHI: India and Egypt are seeking further cooperation in startups, fintech, cyber and artificial intelligence, Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar said after the two countries held their first strategic dialogue. 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr. Badr Abdelatty arrived in New Delhi on Thursday for a two-day visit, during which he co-chaired the inaugural India-Egypt Strategic Dialogue with Jaishankar. 

“Appreciated the intensification of our collaboration, since establishment of India-Egypt Strategic Partnership in 2023,” Jaishankar wrote on X following the meeting. 

“Discussed furthering our cooperation across political, economic, defense, maritime and counterterrorism domains. And new opportunities in startups, cyber & AI, space and fintech.” 

India and Egypt have been working to boost ties in recent years, and agreed in January 2023 to increase bilateral trade to $12 billion in the next five years, up from $7.3 billion in 2021-22. 

They also signed several agreements then on expanding cooperation in cybersecurity, information technology, culture and broadcasting. 

Anil Trigunayat, former ambassador who has served in Indian missions in the Middle East and Europe, said that trade and investment between India and Egypt “continues to be promising,” noting that discussions have focused on how to take them forward. 

“Both sides agreed to explore possibilities in digital public infrastructure, fintech, pharmaceuticals space, start-ups and innovation as well as investments in renewables,” he told Arab News. 

“There is tremendous potential which needs to be harnessed for mutual benefit as both sides, India and Egypt play much bigger roles in the respective regions and both can synergise cooperation in the Mediterranean.” 

Egypt has also been trying to attract more Indian companies across various sectors, such as renewable energy, chemicals and information technology, including during the visit of Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Hassan El-Khatib earlier this year in March. 

“Egypt is keen for Indian companies to invest in Egypt to meet local market needs and expand exports, particularly through the Suez Canal Economic Zone, which offers extensive investment incentives and various tax and customs exemptions,” said Muddassir Qamar, associate professor at the Center for West Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. 

He said India-Egypt strategic dialogue platform would further strengthen their partnership. 

“Given that Egypt is working to accelerate its economic growth and development, there are immense potentials for cooperation between Indian and Egyptian companies in new and emerging areas,” he told Arab News. 

“There are immense potentials in improving relations including in the emerging and niche areas such as startups, renewable energy, AI, fintech, electric vehicles, food security, etc. Investments, energy and defense ties are the most important areas for cooperation.”