Murder of Lyhanna, 11, enrages France and turns up heat on government

France's government is under mounting pressure over the murder of an 11-year-old girl whose alleged killer had several times been denounced to police as a sex offender.

More than 60,000 people took part in protests across the country on Monday following the killing of Lyhanna, many demanding the resignation of Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin – one of the senior members of the government.

There is fury because the suspect – 41 year-old Jérome Barella – had been reported to police last August by the mother of a 10-year-old called Rosa, who alleged he had sexually abused her daughter on several occasions.

Medical evidence confirmed she had been abused, and yet not once in the nine months since the complaint was filed was Barella questioned by investigators.

In the eyes of an angry French public, had the suspect been at least contacted by police he would have known he was being watched and that may have prevented Lyhanna's death.

Lyhanna's body was found last Thursday at a farm around 10km (6 miles) from the town of Fleurance in south-west France, where she was last seen at the end of school six days previously.

Barella, who is the father of a friend of Lyhanna, was taken into custody three days after her disappearance.

He has denied any involvement in her death but has admitted taking her in his car to a local swimming pool. When he was questioned by an investigating judge he refused to answer any questions.

It has since emerged that he was named in several other cases of alleged sexual abuse in recent years, which should have made the Rosa case a priority - but did not.

Rosa's mother has now announced through her lawyers that she is filing a lawsuit against the state and against Darmanin for their responsibilities in the affair.

Darmanin, a leading figure in the Renaissance party that generally supports President Emmanuel Macron, has agreed that the Lyhanna case revealed "shocking and unacceptable failings in the services of the state", but he has ruled out resignation.

He and the government find themselves caught between an increasingly incensed public and a justice system whose magistrates and prosecutors refuse to be made scapegoats.

The Higher Magistrature Council (CSM) said it "deplored the discredit being thrown on thousands of magistrates" because of the affair, which was being "instrumentalised by people who have decided in advance that magistrates are the guilty parties".

The CSM said magistrates, who in the French system direct police in the conduct of a criminal investigation, lacked the financial and manpower resources to do their work correctly.

But, speaking before a Senate committee on Tuesday, Darmanin said resources were not the problem in the Lyhanna affair.

"What is missing in this story is not a new law; it's not more money; it's not better IT. It's the need to prioritise allegations of rape," he said.

"The principle of precaution should have been applied to take Mr Barella out of circulation and determine whether the allegations against him were true. We had all the elements. Nine months later it is quite incomprehensible that he was never taken into custody," Darmanin said.

The minister has told state prosecutors to review some 70,000 complaints of sexual abuse on minors that are still awaiting treatment.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has also promised to toughen a law on child protection currently going through parliament, so that serial rapists face potential life terms in jail, rather than a maximum of 20 years.