Lyhanna case puts France’s child protection failures under scrutiny

The death of 11-year-old Lyhanna in southwestern France has turned a criminal case into a national reckoning over how authorities handle child abuse warnings. The case has led to street protests, an official inquiry and a government order to review tens of thousands of open complaints.

Lyhanna disappeared on May 29 in Fleurance after entering a car with a man prosecutors identify as Jerome Barella, 41, the father of one of her schoolmates, according to Al Jazeera. Her body was found six days later in an abandoned grain silo.

Barella has been charged with abducting and unlawfully confining a minor and is being held in pre-trial detention, Al Jazeera reported. The cause of Lyhanna’s death has not been officially confirmed, and Barella denies the charges.

Earlier complaints under scrutiny

Public anger grew after it emerged that Barella had previously been the subject of two accusations involving the rape of minors, both of which were either dropped or had not advanced, according to Al Jazeera. A third complaint, filed in August 2025 by the mother of a 10-year-old girl, accused him of repeatedly raping her daughter at his home.

That complaint moved between prosecutors in Toulouse and Auch. Al Jazeera reported that Barella had not been questioned by the time Lyhanna disappeared nine months later.

An inquiry by France’s justice and gendarmerie inspectorates, based on about 30 interviews, found that once the case arrived at the Auch prosecutor’s office it was not handled as a priority and that the investigation lacked proper oversight, according to Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the findings showed that France’s child “protection chain” had failed.

Advocates point to wider strain

Claude Bard, president of the child protection group Enfance et Partage, told Al Jazeera the case reflected pressure across the system rather than one person’s mistake. He said France records 160,000 cases of child sexual abuse each year, while convictions occur in only 1 percent of cases.

Bard cited a report stating that a child in France is subjected to rape or sexual violence about every three minutes. He said the key failure in Lyhanna’s case was that the third complaint against Barella was not marked urgent as it passed between prosecutors’ offices.

Enfance et Partage is calling for an emergency legal measure similar to protection orders used in domestic violence cases, Bard told Al Jazeera. Such a tool would allow prosecutors to bring a case before a judge within days so a child could be moved to safety; Bard said about 80 percent of child sexual abuse in France occurs within families.

Choralyne Dumesnil, a lawyer who has worked on child sexual abuse cases, told Al Jazeera that complaints often lose momentum when they move from one jurisdiction to another, a problem professionals have raised for years.

Review order draws criticism

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin has ordered prosecutors nationwide to review every open child abuse complaint by July 14, Al Jazeera reported. The caseload has risen from an initial estimate of 70,000 to more than 88,000, including 7,452 rape allegations.

Dumesnil said the review was necessary but questioned whether the deadline would allow careful work. Magistrates’ unions have also criticised the order, accusing Darmanin of looking for scapegoats instead of addressing long-term shortages; Al Jazeera reported that France has about one-fifth as many prosecutors per capita as the European average.

Protests have continued. Organisers said 100,000 people marched in Paris on July 4, with tens of thousands more in about 110 towns and cities, calling for a comprehensive law on prevention, investigations and victim support. More than 340,000 people have signed a petition supporting that demand, according to Al Jazeera.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.