The autopsy on Lyhanna’s body did not make it possible to determine “with certainty”, according to the Agen prosecutor’s office, the cause of death of the 11-year-old girl, raped and found dead in early June, in a case whose apparent judicial failures caused strong emotion in the country.
Lyhanna, 11, was found dead in Gers on June 4, several days after her disappearance. The main suspect, Jérôme Barella, had never been arrested or summoned despite several complaints and reports of sexual violence against other minors.
“At the end of the examinations carried out, the cause of death cannot be determined with certainty,” wrote the three forensic doctors who conducted the autopsy in their report, cited by the Agen prosecutor Olivier Naboulet in a press release released Wednesday evening.
Hobble lesions
The examinations, carried out after Lyhanna’s body was transported by helicopter to the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie in Pontoise (Val-d’Oise), revealed the absence of “visible cervical traumatic” or “internal traumatic” lesions to explain the death”, continued Olivier Naboulet.
The forensic report, however, mentions marks on the lower and upper limbs “highly suggestive of restraint lesions” – even if the body was not tied up at the time of its discovery – and “contusions on the corners and inside of the mouth”.
“The findings of the autopsy report, combined with the previous biological analyzes lead to the conclusion that a rape was committed on the victim,” adds the Agen prosecutor.
After receiving the report on Monday, Olivier Naboulet on Wednesday expanded the prosecution against Jérôme Barella to the counts of “murder of a minor aged fifteen, preceded or accompanied by rape” and “rape of a minor aged fifteen by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”, counts for which life imprisonment is incurred, specifies the press release.
New exams in progress
“Additional anatomopathology examinations are necessary, as well as a toxicological analysis,” notes the prosecutor, who indicates that they are in progress but that “the scientific processes implemented are necessarily long”.
The magistrates of the public prosecutor’s office, in particular that of Auch where the case was handled, have been under fire since failures in the procedure seemed to emerge.
“The investigations must continue in good conditions,” said Lyhanna’s parents after reading the autopsy report, according to a press release from their lawyer on Wednesday. “They demand that all political exploitation cease” and call for “respect for the image” of their daughter, regretting in particular its use “by artificial intelligence”, added Me François Roujou de Boubée.
