President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he feared for trust in France’s institutions after a botched investigation into the main suspect in an 11-year-old girl’s likely murder triggered public outrage.
The body of the girl, named as Lyhanna, was found last week after she went missing on 29 May in the southwestern town of Fleurance.
The suspect, a 41-year-old father of a school friend of the victim, had twice before been formally accused of raping a child, but investigations had been dropped or had stalled.
“It is trust in our institutions that is at stake,” Macron told a cabinet meeting, according to government spokesperson Maud Bregeon.
But he called for calm after nationwide anger over the handling of previous allegations against the main suspect, adding: “We do not respond to a tragedy with shouting.”
“There have been clear malfunctions. We must now understand what falls under individual responsibilities and what concerns systemic lapses within all the public services involved,” Macron said.
Around 60,000 people protested across the country on Monday, some demanding the resignation of Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Darmanin has refused to step down, but apologised for what he called a “huge failure” in the Lyhanna case.
Authorities have not yet announced the results of a forensic examination of the girl’s body. They have not charged the suspect, who has been named as Jerome B, with any crime beyond abduction.
Jerome B., who lived with his family in the neighbouring village of Montestruc-sur-Gers, had previously worked in schools.
‘I called every Monday’
One woman had filed a legal complaint against the suspect in August last year, accusing him of repeatedly raping her daughter, who was born in 2014, between September 2024 and May 2025.
The case was backed up by a medical report, according to the justice minister.
But police had not questioned him by the time Lyhanna went missing nine months later.
“The justice system did not do its job,” the mother, who wished to remain anonymous, told reporters on Tuesday.
“I called every Monday morning, while my daughter was with the psychologist. I called the police,” she added. “The last time I rang them, they told me that if I kept harassing them, they would press charges.”
Only 7% of complaints for sexual assault of a minor in France result in a conviction, according to an independent commission, CIIVISE.
A 2022 government report signalled limited staff and time to properly investigate allegations of child abuse.
In 70% of cases, after hearing the suspect, investigators did not carry out a further search for evidence, such as checking phone records, security camera footage or computers, according to the report made public by investigative site Mediapart on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told the Senate on Wednesday there had been no lack of resources to investigate the suspect in the Lyhanna case.
“But that does not mean the justice system does not have a resources issue,” he added.
Kindergarten aides
Lyhanna’s case is the latest in a series of high-profile incidents linked to the protection of children in France.
In recent months, parents in Paris have accused some school monitors of sexually abusing pupils in their care.
Since the start of the year, the city has suspended 52 monitors suspected of “sexual or sexist abuse,” the mayor said on Tuesday.
Last year a court sentenced a retired surgeon to 20 years in jail, after he confessed to sexually assaulting or raping 299 patients between 1989-2014.
He had practiced for decades despite a conviction for owning abusive images of children.
An estimated 160,000 children suffer rape or sexual assault each year in France, most by a man within their family or acquaintances, according to CIIVISE.