They were rare or blurred the day after Lola’s murder. In one week, photos and videos showing the face of Dahbia B., the main suspect in the girl’s murder, have multiplied in the media…
Le Parisien, BFMTV, C8, Cnews and now Le Figaro… A week after the sordid murder of Lola on October 14 in Paris, photos and videos of Dahbia B., the main suspect in the crime, have flooded into the media. And as every time a news item upsets public opinion or terrorism strikes, modesty, questions of image rights, such as those relating to the presumption of innocence, were quickly swept away by the need to to show.
If the face of the 24-year-old young woman, born in Algeria and in an irregular situation in France, very quickly circulated on social networks from Saturday October 15, it was not until Tuesday October 18 that her silhouette was really highlighted on press sites in France. Le Parisien publishes that day an online article on the suspect, indicating that she had been placed in solitary confinement and under high surveillance at Fresnes prison.
Below the title, the full-width photo shows Dahbia B., visibly captured by CCTV, as she entered the girl’s building. At this stage, the image is of poor quality, the face blurred. As for its origin, it is not difficult to determine: the snapshot had actually been posted by Lola’s mother in a desperate appeal on Facebook, the evening of her disappearance. It had already been published in the form of a capture in a handful of media, but not in the main photo.
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After this precedent, the image of Dahbia B. will be widely taken up on television, in particular on the news channels continuously. In a report on the investigation, BFMTV, for example, reproduces the same CCTV snapshot on October 20. TF1 will also display the image in its reports. Always blurred that day, the face of Dahbia B. will gradually reveal itself with much clearer features to the general public.
Because this Thursday, October 20, 2022 still, Le Parisien reveals another image, clearer but also more intriguing. The newspaper, which leans in a new investigation on the family of Dahbia B., this time publishes an unsourced snapshot, showing the face of a young woman visibly retouched, as if straight out of an animated film or a video game. The photo is credited “DR”, for “rights reserved”. No additional information will be provided on its provenance, so the origin of the image is still difficult to establish today and the image still enigmatic.
Videos taken from TikTok
The television will not fail, once again, to engage. On October 20, on BFMTV, journalist Alain Marshall introduces new images of Dahbia B., believing that “behind this first name, we can now put a face since on social networks, everyone films themselves”. This time, the images are clearly sourced as coming from social networks and no blurring is applied anymore. In TPMP the same evening, Cyril Hanouna, reproduces them on the screen during a real fake debate. “Do the families want to see the face of this main suspect?” Will ask the favorite host of C8, his face more concerned than ever. The answer will soon be found. After an expeditious round table of its columnists, four other images will be disclosed (capture above), sometimes showing very dissimilar faces, without it moving anyone on the set.
This Friday, it is CNews, the other television channel of the Vivendi/Bolloré group which, in an excerpt devoted to the “profile of the suspect”, will still broadcast videos from the social networks of Dahbia B., now blocked. At almost the same time, Le Figaro, which was able to explore the young woman’s TikTok account (since suspended), will publish on its website an article that will show yet new captures.