Repeated errors in handling of rape case linked to French girl's death: report

An administrative investigation ordered after the death of 11 year-old Lyhanna in southern France has revealed serious failings in how a previous rape complaint against the main suspect was handled. The case has brought the French judicial and police system under stark scrutiny, especially regarding cases of child abuse.

Issued on: 22/06/2026 - 16:59

3 min Reading time

An investigation by the services of the General Inspectorates of Justice (IGJ) and the National Gendarmerie (IGGN) was delivered Monday morning to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

Upon reading the report, Lecornu wrote on social media that "the protection chain failed", adding that it was "neither a simple administrative malfunction, nor or a lack of resources".

The report, based on around 30 interviews, highlights a series of failures that allowed Jérôme Barella, the main suspect in the disappearance and death of 11-year-old Lyhanna, to avoid prosecution, despite rape cases filed against him months earlier.

Lyhanna disappeared in the town of Fleurance in southwestern France on 29 May, and her body was found six days later in an abandoned grain silo.

Barella, who has been charged with abduction and unlawfully confining a minor, is being held in pre-trial detention. The cause of death has not yet been officially established.

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

The report focuses on a complaint filed in August 2025 by the mother of a 10-year-old girl who alleged that Barella had raped her daughter several times between September 2024 and May 2025 at his home.

Barella had still not been questioned by police when Lyhanna went missing nine months later.

The complaint "was not treated as a priority procedure" in the Gers, the head of France’s General Inspectorate of Justice, Stéphane Noël, said Monday, referring to the department where Barella resided.

The complaint was initially filed in Toulouse, where Barella was identified as the alleged perpetrator, and it was transferred to prosecutors in Auch, the capital of the neighbouring Gers department.

In his presentation of the report to the government, Noël pointed to a number of failures that resulted in lengthy delays in the investigation.

'Bureaucratic loop'

"The report identifies an accumulation of wasted time and a lack of procedure follow-up, both by the prosecutor’s office and the gendarmerie once the case arrived at the Auch prosecutor’s office," he said.

According to the report, the case was caught in a bureaucratic loop, travelling back and forth between Toulouse and Auch.

Jean-Michel Gentil, head of the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie, said the complaint was handled in Toulouse in a way that was "appropriate, diligent and of good quality".

Children in danger 'not heard' in France, rights lawyer warns after Lyhanna death

However, once the case reached Auch, "the criminal investigation was treated as an ordinary procedure or, at the very least, was not treated as a priority case", said Noël.

Investigators had requested that Barella be placed in police custody and questioned. However, Noël said "the investigation was not sufficiently directed and not at all controlled".

As a result, Barella was neither interviewed nor detained before Lyhanna's abduction.

The abduction and murder of Lyhanna have prompted national outrage and re-ignited criticisms of the way France's handles child abuse complaints.

Wave of public anger

More investigations are underway, but the report could lead to consequences for individual prosecutors and investigators.

"When professional misconduct is established... no one would understand if it were not sanctioned," Darmanin wrote in a letter sent last week to France's roughly 10,000 magistrates, which also reaffirmed his "deep attachment" to judicial independence.

He had drawn criticism from judges after pointing to individual failings right after Lyhanna's death, before the inspection mission had completed its work.

Lyhanna's death continues to fuel a wave of demonstrations calling for stronger protection for victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and the government is under pressure to respond.

Thousands of demonstrators have been gathering every Monday evening outside the Justice Ministry and in cities across France, demanding stronger protections for children and a more comprehensive approach to investigations into allegations.

Lecornu on Monday reiterated his intention to introduce a number of measures, including strengthening a child protection bill that is expected to be presented at an upcoming cabinet meeting, which would make it mandatory for investigators to start to investigate all child rape complaints within the first three months after they are filed.

The proposals would would also allow serial rapists of minors to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

(with newswires)