France Orders Nationwide Review of 88,000 Child Abuse Cases After Failures in 11-Year-Old’s Murder Investigation

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered prosecutors across France to review every open child abuse complaint by July 14, 2026, covering more than 88,000 cases that include 7,452 allegations of rape. The directive followed an official inquiry that identified failures in the handling of prior complaints against the man charged in the rape and murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna.

Lyhanna went missing on May 29, 2026, in Fleurance in southwestern France after getting into a car with a man prosecutors identified as Jerome Barella.

Her body was found six days later in an abandoned grain silo. Barella, 41, has been charged with abduction and unlawful confinement of a minor, remains in pre-trial detention, and denies the charges. An inquiry by France’s justice and gendarmerie inspectorates, based on roughly 30 interviews, concluded that a complaint filed in August 2025 accusing Barella of repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl was not treated as a priority after it reached the Auch prosecutor’s office and received inadequate supervision.

Barella had faced two earlier accusations of raping minors that were dropped or stalled. He was not questioned when Lyhanna disappeared nine months later. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu stated that the inquiry findings showed the “protection chain” for children had broken down.

Claude Bard, president of the child protection association Enfance et Partage, said the system was at breaking point and that the August 2025 complaint should have been flagged as urgent. France records 160,000 cases of child sexual abuse annually, with convictions in only one percent of cases, Bard noted.