Body found near the place where French Lyhanna (11) disappeared: “The grief and anger of the parents is indescribable” | News

French investigators have found a body on a farm near where 11-year-old girl Lyhanna disappeared last Friday. The competent prosecutor confirmed this in a press release on Thursday afternoon.

This article is continuously updated with the latest information.

Lyhanna disappeared on Friday, May 29, in the municipality of Fleurance, in the southern French department of Gers. Detectives have found a body near Puycasquier, a town with more than 400 inhabitants about fifteen kilometers from Fleurance.

It is not yet clear whether the body is that of Lyhanna. This needs to be determined by further research. According to the prosecutor of Agen, Olivier Naboulet, the body resembles that of a child and the remains are wearing clothes “resembling” those worn by Lyhanna at the time of her disappearance.

Naboulet says that an autopsy will be carried out within a few hours “to formally identify the body” and determine the cause of death. The prosecutor does not want to provide more details before the autopsy.

“The grief and anger of the parents are indescribable. Pending the autopsy, this is a time of reflection and mourning,” said François Roujou de Boubée, the lawyer for Lyhanna’s parents. “The family would like to thank everyone who assisted in the search.

Today, on the seventh day of the search for the girl, 170 gendarmes were deployed. The gendarmerie called on volunteer riders from a local riding school to search the wooded areas south of Fleurance.

The main suspect in the case is 41-year-old Jérome B., the father of a friend of Lyhanna. He is the last person she was seen with: B. admitted to picking the teenager up in his car, but claims he dropped her off at the local swimming pool.

However, B.’s statements were previously described as “inconsistent and inaccurate,” according to the Auch public prosecutor. He handled the case until it was transferred to the Agen prosecutor.

B. was suspected on Monday and placed in pre-trial detention.

Three lawsuits have already been filed against the father of two in the past. All three files revolved around the alleged rapes or inappropriate treatment of minors. Nevertheless, this did not lead to a conviction: the suspect still has a clean criminal record.

The revelations in the case are causing quite a stir in France. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin finds the course of events completely unacceptable. “We are all shocked by this disarray, which exposes our flawed organization and undoubtedly shows, within the Ministry of Justice and elsewhere, that we do not take the child’s testimony seriously,” he added, stressing that he “will take responsibility.”

He assured that he will make public “the report” that he had drawn up together with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.

“Seventy-three percent of reports of sexual violence against minors are dismissed,” Denis Roth-Fichet, secretary general of the Independent Commission on Incest (Civiise), told the French news agency AFP.

According to the committee, only seven percent of reports of sexual violence against children and three percent of reports of rape against children lead to a conviction. According to Roth-Fichet, in practice the justice system has other priorities, such as the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.

He calls sexual violence against children “a neglected stepchild of the French legal system.” Roth-Fichet points to the commission’s figures, which according to him show that the number of underage victims of sexual violence has increased by 156 percent since 2016.

The French Victim Support Federation is also making itself heard. The organization is today calling for a national forum on crimes against minors

According to the federation, “this case underlines the urgent need to strengthen resources dedicated to the protection of child victims, their support and the judicial handling of sexual violence,” the organization said in a press release.