Brooke Bennett’s family says goodbye

Posted by Tammy on Jul 9, 2008 in crimes against children, Missing Children, News, sex offenders, Uncategorized, Vermont | 2 comments

Of course, I knew that today was the funeral for 12 year old Brooke Bennett. To be honest, I’ve been trying to stay away from the story a little bit the past few days….I get so emotionally involved, and all it really does is upset me. But when my friend Trish sent me the link to Brooke’s funeral, I found that I just had to go watch.

I couldn’t watch it all. It just broke my heart too much. Such a young girl, taken so damned NEEDLESSLY from her family. I’ll never understand these guys. I’ve said the same before, in regards to Denise Amber Lee, Jessica Lunsford, Coral Rose Fullwood….it’s bad enough these guys have to abduct and rape a girl….but why oh why, do they have to kill them? I just don’t get it. It’s even harder when it’s such a young girl. Brooke had her whole life ahead of her. She should be out at the mall, hanging with her friends, putting those dreaded purple streaks in her hair and whining to her mother that the world might end if she runs out of eye liner. She should not be dead, and her family should not be burying their child. It just isn’t right.

WCAX in Burlington has the video coverage of Brooke’s funeral. Watch it if you can. At least watch the beginning of part two, where first Brooke’s sister Savanna speaks, and then her little cousin Courtney. Have tissues handy, you’ll need them.

Brooke Bennett’s Funeral Part One
Brooke Bennett’s Funeral Part Two
Brooke Bennett’s Funeral Part Three

The Burlington Free Press has a beautiful slide show up as well. I’m sitting here crying (again) after watching it.

I also wanted to share a commentary I ran across. It’s the best one I’ve read regarding Brooke. This guy is saying EXACTLY what I wanted to, but couldn’t put into words.

Brooke’s blood stains Vermont
Posted: July 08, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
© 2008

The State of Vermont, its criminal justice system, its state legislators and the parents and family of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett have her blood on their hands.

Brooke Bennett is “alleged” (sometimes I really hate having to use that word) to have been murdered by her uncle, Michael Jacques. Jacques has a long history of sex crimes dating back to 1985 – when he was charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl about 100 times. Prosecutors eventually dismissed the case. In 1993, he was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. The affidavit in said case states that Jacques bound the victim and threatened to kill her while assaulting her. He was given a 6 to 20-year sentence but was released after only four years, based on Vermont’s then “good time” policy.

As the former sex crimes prosecutor Wendy Murphy put it, “Vermont boasts the best sex treatment in the world – Jacques graduated in 2006 from their treatment program supposedly rehabilitated – but as we now tragically know, he was anything but.

Clinical psychologist Dr. George Zeo said, “there is a large body of research that says pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated.” He added that pedophilia is an addiction – and just as a drug addict can relapse after a sustained drug-free period, so it is with pedophiles. Medication and sentencing guidelines may be able to keep their urges in check, but said urges are always there – any treatment must include keeping the pedophile away from children. That said, I submit that, in an open society, the only way to accomplish that is by life imprisonment. When they are paroled, it should be to the cemetery.

Unimaginable parental dereliction, political correctness and clinical hubris run amuck are responsible for the evil done to Brooke. There are some things that, simply put, cannot be corrected with a pill and therapy. Evil exists amongst us – it is real – it is tangible.

I cannot comprehend the complexity of systemic evil that imbues pedophiles. Jacques used an unidentified 14-year-old girl to lure Brooke Bennett to her ultimate death – a 14 year-old who had, herself, been sexually molested by him since she was 9 years old. I pause to note: That means, at the very least, for the last 5 years he was continuously involved in child molestation. That said, with 16 years of parole hanging over his head, how did his parole officer, the police or someone else not discover him? But I get ahead of myself.

The unidentified teen said she had met three other men in the Breckenridge sex ring that Brooke was to be initiated into by having sex with adult males, and that two other girls were also in the “program.” During the sexual initiation, “the first who does it lives and the second gets her throat cut.” This is the human excrement that Vermont boasts they were able to rehabilitate.

Brooke’s father, Jim Bennett, and her stepmother, Janet, indicated that, while they knew Jacques’ history, they never saw any signs of trouble at family gatherings. To which I respond: Did they expect him to just assault her in front of them as they opened Christmas presents?

According to Dr. Zeo, “higher functioning male pedophiles look and act as concerned adults. They appear to be all-around good guys. Everyone likes them. They are involved in activities that bring them in direct contact with children, e.g. coaching, clergy, teaching assistants and mentoring programs such as Big Brothers.”

The lower functioning ones are awkward, loners and have difficulty with intrapersonal relationships with adults. Women are much more difficult to identify because they are naturally accepted as nurturing. So it becomes easier to overlook their aberrant actions.

The most incomprehensible statement Dr. Zeo made during our interview was that “pedophiles do not view their actions as being harmful. They view it as caring, helpful, and nurturing – a special kind of relationship. They also view it as mutual reciprocation.” He added, “It is hard for them to understand how their actions can be harmful.”

JoAnne Thomas wrote that, after researching pedophile websites, she found the “paedo’s” expressed concern about the welfare of Brooke’s uncle and stepfather – her alleged murderer and accomplice. “Their focus was not on the sadistic rape and murder of [a] precious 12-year-old. They saw only injustice to two men. (See: “Brooke Bennett is a pedophile victim”)

As parents, you cannot expect the courts, the schools, the legislature or police to protect your children from sick scum like Jacques and Ray Gagnon. It is your responsibility. If you are too busy or too timid to approach your child’s teacher, clergy, coaches or your own relatives – you are contributing to their potential brutalizing and even possible death. If you are too enlightened to believe it could happen to your child, you should be held out as contributing to child endangerment.

Brooke Bennett is dead because those who were supposed to protect her did the exact opposite. As for me – I will never apologize for telling my son’s coaches, “encouraging him doesn’t mean putting your hands on him.”

Mychal Massie
World Net Daily