Macron and wife Brigitte speak with parents of murdered French schoolgirl Lyhanna
French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte spoke by phone with the parents of 11-year-old Lyhanna on Wednesday, after her murder provoked national outrage and scrutiny of judicial failings.
Discreet presidential outreach
French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron held a telephone conversation with the parents of Lyhanna on Wednesday 10 June, according to multiple sources confirming a report in La Dépêche du Midi. The contact was arranged by the president's chief of staff, Laurent Carrié, a former prefect of the Gers department who visited the town of Fleurance "almost incognito" on Sunday 7 June. There he met mayor Grégory Bobatto and the parents, and it was agreed that Carrié would attend the funeral held on Friday 12 June. The Élysée intended the support to be discreet, so as not to give the impression of instrumentalising the situation.
The conversation was long and emotional.
The family has been accompanied by the presidency "since the very first days of the affair", according to the newspaper, but the approach was deliberately low-key.
The tragedy and the suspect
Lyhanna, an 11-year-old schoolgirl from Fleurance, was last seen on 29 May entering a car belonging to Jérôme Barella, the 41-year-old father of one of her friends, outside her school. Barella was arrested the following day and placed under formal investigation for kidnapping on 1 June. Her body was discovered in an agricultural silo on 4 June. Barella, who had initially denied transporting the child before being confronted with CCTV footage, remains in pre-trial detention.
- Lyhanna last seen entering suspect Jérôme Barella's car outside her school.
- Barella arrested by gendarmes.
- Barella formally charged with kidnapping and placed in pre-trial detention.
- Lyhanna's body discovered in an agricultural silo.
- Laurent Carrié visits Fleurance, meets parents and the mayor.
- President Macron and Brigitte Macron speak by phone with Lyhanna's parents.
- Lyhanna's funeral held privately.
Subsequent revelations showed that Barella had been the subject of multiple prior complaints. A rape allegation in 2017 was shelved, and complaints filed in 2022 and 2025 were either archived or still under investigation, the prosecutor of Auch, Clémence Meyer, stated.
Calls for justice reform
In the wake of the killing, Macron acknowledged "obvious dysfunctions" in public services but urged against acting with "demagoguery" or "precipitation".
We don't respond to a tragedy with shouting.
He also rejected claims that the judiciary had been starved of resources, pointing to budget increases under his two presidential terms. The parents' lawyer, François Roujou de Boubée, dismissed that defence.
The resources we give to justice and their effectiveness, yes, Mr. President, that is the real heart of the problem.
National emotion
The case has provoked immense emotion across France. Mayor Bobatto, who said he had felt "alone" before the enormity of a story whose media impact had gone far beyond the region, was among those who welcomed the discreet but direct involvement of the presidency.
