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The case of Lyhanna, the 11-year-old girl who was raped and killed in the southwestern town of Fleurance, has rocked France for more than a month, prompting protests for child protection and forcing the government to promise major reforms.
Lyhanna disappeared on May 29 after riding in a car with a man who prosecutors say is Jerome Barella, the 41-year-old father of one of her classmates. His body was found six days later in an abandoned grain bin. Barella has been charged with kidnapping and unlawful confinement of a minor and remains in custody pending trial, although the cause of death has not been determined. He denies the charges.
What turned grief into national outrage was the revelation that Barella had already faced two child molestation charges – both dropped or suspended. A third complaint, filed in August 2025 by the mother of a 10-year-old girl, accused him of raping her daughter at her home.
The case escalated between prosecutors in Toulouse and Auch. Barella was not questioned when Lyhanna disappeared nine months later.
An investigation conducted by the French justice authorities and gendarmerie investigators, based on about 30 questions, later said that the case had just arrived at the public prosecutor’s office in Auch and did not consider it important, and that the investigation was not adequately supervised.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the findings showed the “security” of children had been compromised.
A “breakdown” plan
For Claude Bard, president of the children’s protection organization Enfance et Partage, the tragedy is not the problem of one soldier, but a sign of the fatigue of the whole system. He said: “This system of protecting children has reached a very bad state.”
Although France records 160,000 cases of child abuse each year, only one case is prosecuted. Bard he wrote a report reported that a child in France is raped or sexually abused every three minutes.
Bard pointed out what he called a major failure in Lyhanna’s case: the third complaint against Barella was not considered a priority because it moved between prosecutors’ offices.
If it had that name, he said, “Lyhanna would probably still be with us.”
Bard is pushing for a new legal instrument based on the protection laws already in place for victims of domestic violence. This is an emergency procedure that would allow a prosecutor to bring a case to a judge within days so that a child can be placed in a safe place, instead of being left in the hands of an abusive parent. About 80 percent of child abuse in France occurs within families, he said.
Choralyne Dumesnil, a lawyer who has worked on child abuse cases, said what was shown was what experts have argued for years – complaints made in one area fail to carry over to another. “Sadly, this is a story we know about,” Dumesnil said.
Big deadline
Last month, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered prosecutors nationwide to review by July 14 all complaints of child abuse – a number of cases that have grown from an initial estimate of 70,000 to more than 88,000, including 7,452 allegations of rape.
Dumesnil did not say about the timing: “I don’t know if it’s possible, but I think it’s necessary… Instead, he wanted to have a stable economy and enough time.
Associations of Magistrates have echoed this criticism, accusing the minister of looking for scapegoats instead of dealing with limited funds: France has about one-fifth of the judges per capita in Europe.
Public anger has not subsided. On July 4, organizers said 100,000 people marched in Paris with thousands more in about 110 towns and cities, calling for a single comprehensive law to stop, investigate and help. More than 340,000 people have signed a petition in support of this initiative.
Bard said the collection, despite the delay, offers hope, but lasting change will not only require new laws but also a real change in the way French people feel about children. “It’s not too late,” he said.
