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August 24, 2020
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August 24, 2020
On Saturday, August 29 at 12 p.m., citizens plan to rally in front of the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse to bring awareness to local pedophilia and sex trafficking.
Zachary Phillips, event organizer, said he wants the rally to be educational.
“I feel like a lot of people aren’t educated on how our government actually handles these situations, who do they call whenever they come across a child that has been in a situation that needs to be taken out of it — stuff like that,” he said.
Phillips said he has invited multiple organizations to set up tables and provide information to attendees.
“People can come to them, and they could learn from these people directly what it is that their organization does to help these children and women,” he said. Phillips noted that Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) and a victim who want’s to share their story will be in attendance.
The Houma native said he has attempted to contact to local law enforcement, such as the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office (TPSO), Houma Police Department and District Attorney’s Office, to attend the rally.
“I’m trying to have them come and speak about what they do. So for our police agencies: how they investigate these things, how are these things handled on their end,” Phillips said. “And then on the District Attorney’s side, personally, I want to know why it is that so many pedophiles are walking away. How would you not believe a four-year-old child when they’re telling you that so-and-so touched them? They have no reason to lie.”
Monday afternoon, Phillips told the Times he is still waiting to hear from local law officials to confirm their appearance, but he has obtained a permit for the rally.
Phillips said a therapist will also speak at the gathering to explain what to look for in an abused child. “I don’t think a lot of parents know what to look for,” he said. “A lot of kids don’t even talk about it. And that’s how you end up with a child who is abused for years because you don’t even know what to look for in that kid.”
He continued: “So I feel like if parents would come here and actually hear what this therapist has to say, they would actually know what to look for in their child, and it may end up helping someone eventually.”
More on the event can be found here.
Phillips shares his story
*Content Warning: The following story details sexual child abuse.
In 1998, when he was four years old, Phillips’ mother — who was a single parent at the time — trusted her friend to babysit Phillips and his older brother, he recalled. The babysitter, who was also watching a four-year-old girl, left the children in the care of her husband, who Phillips said was a Terrebonne Parish corrections officer at the time.
“And probably within 15 minutes of her leaving, her husband was calling me and the other girl to the bathroom,” he continued. “The next memory that I have is of him making us have sex. He was cussing at me because I was crying.”
Phillips said the man called him a “bitch” and put his foot on his back as he tried to get up. “So I guess after enough fighting, he just told me to get out, and he kept her in there,” he remembered. “That was the memory that messed me up later on in life because you don’t really realize what happened there until later on.”
After Phillips told his mom what happened, she went to the police, and the man was arrested, he said.
What happened in the court system Phillips is still unsure of, but he recalled there was a push for the death penalty because of what the man did to the four-year-old girl. “It just seems like it’s a major failure on the government’s part because there’s proof that he’s done it. There was proof in the girl that he had done it,” he said.
According to Phillips, the man served 366 days in jail, “which tells me that more than likely, they didn’t even touch that case for almost a year.”
“But in the end, they decided that they didn’t have enough evidence to move forward with the grand jury indictment,” Phillips said. “Our case is still open; I can still bring him back to court, which is what I’m planning to do.”
Phillips added that the female survivor, who is still deciding whether to share her story or not, is willing to go back to court as well.
A father of three, Phillips says the abuse still affects him, especially as a parent.
“I’m real conscious as a parent, like I don’t want my children around people too much. I try to make sure that who we choose to babysit, we trust completely. And it’s normally women,” Phillips shared. “I have this severe distrust of men around my kids, and I got two daughters and a son. And they’re all about that age right now.”
Phillips said that he even teaches his children to actual names of their body parts in case they have to report an assault to their teachers. “That way there’s no guessing if someone did something to my child,” he continued.
He shared his story on social media, and after that, several people reached out and gave him the idea of doing a rally, Phillips said.
“I’m really hoping our district attorney shows up because I think that they need to hear the fact that the people are wanting them to do their job better,” Phillips said. “I don’t really blame them. I think they get caught up in the situation where it becomes just a job for them; they have to emotionally disconnect from the job. And I get that”
He continued: “But there’s a lot of people being affected by this.”
