Preparing the Protest for Justice for Annabelle

Kay Hickey was 8 years old when a trusted member robbed her of innocence the moment he started sexually molesting her. For most of her childhood, she lived in fear that this man would kill her and her family because he told her he would do so if she said a word. In fact, when she was 10, the Dallas/Fort Worth native and her family went out to the lake. Her parents had a boat, so they wanted to put it to use. As family members and Hickey jumped off the boat and swam in the lake, this family member went beneath Hickey, pulled her under water, brought her back up and whispered in her ear, “I could kill you, and no one would know I did it.” Hickey’s parents and family members were only 20 feet away.

Today at 50, Hickey has had to relive that pain all over again since reading the story about Annabelle, the two-year-old little girl who was sexually molested by Thomas Boden, a 29-year-old San Angelo man who was sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication probation last Tuesday.

“All I keep thinking of is this little girl has only lived on this planet for two years, and now, for the rest of her life, she’s going to have to deal with this,” Hickey said. “She’s going to have to think about it. Even at two years old, she’s going to remember it, and that’s not fair.”

Hickey, two other women with similar stories, and approximately 11 other people from different backgrounds, ages, marital and family status joined together at Unidad Park Saturday morning to prepare for the “Justice for Annabelle Protest” scheduled at 10 a.m. at the Tom Green County Courthouse, 112 W. Beauregard Ave. These San Angelo residents said they were overcome with an onslaught of emotions, including anger, disbelief, hurt, pain, sorrow, and more importantly, a sense of injustice since reading Boden is free to walk the streets of their city without being listed on the Sex Offender registry while little Annabelle has to live the rest of her life recovering from what happened to her.

“There’s no justice. It will affect every single thing she does in her life, with or without therapy,” Hickey said. “I read the story over and over again, and got more upset. I’m 50 years old now. To read about another child that I do not know…I’ve never met Annabelle. I’ve never met her mother or her family, but it just brought everything back, and I know that more than likely will happen with her and other victims of sexual assault.”

Hickey said after all these years, she will tell her story for the first time at Monday’s protest because she wants people to know victims like her and Annabelle deserve justice, something she feels doesn’t happen today.

The Message

Overall, “No justice for Annabelle,” is the message Hickey and her fellow community members, along with the members from the Concho Valley Rape Crisis Center, will be chanting at Monday’s protest; and if contributors from Saturday have their way, this protest isn’t going to be the typical “in-your-face rant,” which is why Hickey and Crystan Jacques, 29, of San Angelo got together through Facebook to schedule what they referred to as a “Rally for Annabelle” in preparation for Monday’s event. The 14 attendees at the rally brought poster boards, scissors, glue, markers, pink butterflies, and anything else they could find to ensure their message is loud and clear as they protest for change.

“It’s pretty much been non-stop for everybody since the whole story came out,” Hickey said.

In addition to these poster boards, Monday’s protest will be a wealth of information, Hickey noted. Not only does she plan on making people aware, who may not be aware, that this type of ruling is continuously taking place here in San Angelo, but she also plans on providing information on how to take the proper steps to get involved to get Texas House of Representative Drew Darby to take action and change the way pedophiles are dealt with in Tom Green County.

“In my opinion, other than murder, pedophilia and crimes of a sexual nature involving children is the absolute worst crime there is,” Hickey proclaimed. “I have never met anybody in my life who doesn’t believe that. For [Boden] to practically admit [he] did what [he] did, and be able to walk out the front doors of the courthouse with 10 years probation, there’s something very very wrong with that. He should have received, as well as they all should, life in prison without parole, and that is the law that we need to be asking for.”

For Hickey, last Tuesday’s ruling shows victims of sexual abuse that the system is not a justice system for them, so why should they put themselves out there.

“Why label yourself as a victim if no one’s going to listen and no one’s going to pay attention,” she noted.

Beyond that, however, the fact that this happened to a 2-year-old child who told her mother what happened while police were there, says a lot.

“Annabelle, must be something else. When I think of her, I smile because she was able to tell her mommy, and that is a wonderful thing,” Hickey stated. “[Boden] would have never even been arrested or charged if Annabelle had not been able to tell her mother.”

The Case and the Rage

In the original complaint, Boden had been drinking on Jan. 1 when he got into an argument with Annabelle’s mother. She had just gotten home from work, and Boden, who was her boyfriend at the time, was left in charge of Annabelle. After Annabelle’s mother called the police, and as they were dealing with Boden, the mother found a large amount of blood on the girl’s diaper.

Despite this evidence, Boden walked free.

In response to his decision, Ferguson stated, “One thing that was clear is that this child was injured. While not ideal, this plea allowed us to secure an admission of guilt from the defendant, keep him from contacting the victim or her family, remove any chance of a not guilty, and allowed us to keep an extremely young child from having to tell her story to a group of strangers and be subject to cross examination from a skilled defense attorney.”

These comments are reprehensible to those who plan to protest on Monday.

“It shouldn’t matter to DA Ferguson, or any other DA, whether they think they have enough evidence,” Hickey admonished. “What they did is not give a jury the chance and an opportunity to make the decision. They took that decision away from Boden’s peers, and that’s not how our justice system is supposed to work, so it needs to be changed. There’s no justice in what happened to Annabelle. The justice system failed her, and failed her family as well. We as taxpayers, as citizens, cannot allow people who sit on our benches, and people who we trust to try the cases to throw their hands in the air and offer a plea deal because it’s the easiest thing to do.”

These sentiments rang clear throughout the morning.

Jacquez, who has two boys, Matthew and Nathan, ages 7 and 4, said she couldn’t imagine what Annabelle and her family are going through right now, and what happened to them could happen to anyone thanks to a lax justice system, which is a national problem.

According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year; however, the number of unreported instances is greater.

For Hickey and the others, something has to change, especially in Tom Green County, which they feel has a habit of giving leniency to child molesters when someone with a small amount of drugs receives a much longer sentence.

"We have to show [Ferguson and the justice system], we’re not going to take it. We have to change things. The fact that he didn’t even get on the [Sex Offender Registry list], well, I’m angry about that," Jacquez said.

Similar to Hickey, Jacquez read Annabelle’s story online, and it affected her terribly. She said she was shaking and crying after reading what she did. For her, justice wasn’t served, and this was the Tom Green County Justice system shoving this incident under the rug. However, she said if this had been one of their children, the outcome would have been different.

“It’s not fair. That’s clear as day. Anyone who has a brain in their head can tell you that,” Jacquez said.

Tasha Muñoz, 37, of San Angelo echoed Jacquez’s sentiments.

“This little girl got no justice,” Muñoz said with tears in her eyes. “For us to be out here, and to know this man is amongst our children, it’s just horrible. They’re not just breaking her family’s heart or her heart, they’re breaking all our hearts in the community. They let us down really bad."

Muñoz added that she normally stays clear of stories like Annabelle’s because they affect her physically, mentally and emotionally. She said she’s weak at heart. However, when her 18-year-old daughter called her crying after reading about Boden’s release and what he did to Annabelle, that hurt her more.

“She just needed to be held and reassured,” Muñoz said. “We all live in a fallen world. It’s just sad when something bad happens to our babies. So she was crying. I cried with her.”

Although Justin Norwood, 30, of San Angelo has no kids, he said he had to be out at Saturday’s rally and Monday’s protest.

“What really bother me the most is this guy is not even getting on a registry, and this is absolutely horrifying to me," Norwood stated. "I can’t imagine being a parent in this climate where something like this happens."

Norwood, who is a manger at the Clarion Hotel, said he briefly knew Annabelle’s mother when she worked at the Black Sheep Bar and Grill, and he hoped by participating in the rally and protest, she would know that the community supports her, and they support Annabelle.

The Youth and Their Message

Beyond showing support, three ASU students. Kendra Newmann, 20, of San Antonio, Kassia Jaramillo, 22, of Ballinger, Rosale Guerra, 21, of San Angelo, and Erika Gonzales, 20, of San Angelo said they hope to make a statement for change.

“It broke my heart, just the fact that [Boden’s] not getting a harsher sentence and knowing that he’s still out there and can hurt another child,” Newmann said. “Maybe he’ll do it again and affect another child’s life. This doesn’t just affect the little girl, but it also affects the family.”

Jaramillo, who is also an intern with the Concho Valley Rape Crisis Center, said she was glad to see all the people who showed up on Saturday, and she hopes the turnout Monday will be even greater. As for Guerra, she has a 4-year-old daughter, and as a mother, she thought more should have been done.

“I can only imagine if that would have happened to her,” Guerra said about her daughter, Isabel.

Gonzales, who works at the Boys & Girls Club in San Angelo, said she too felt like this could have happened to one of the kids she works with, and couldn’t stomach the idea that Boden only got probation.

“What if this happens to another kid?” Gonzales asked. “I just thought of this little girl and the pain she went through. She didn’t understand anything that was happening to her but the pain."

The little ones at Saturday’s rally also hated knowing little Annabelle had to deal with terrible pain.

Christian Ramirez, 9, of San Angelo, who attends Texas Leadership Charter Academy, said he wanted to come out with his mother, Rosemary, to help craft posters for Annabelle.

“She got hurt really bad,” he said while cutting out pink hearts to place on the posters. Pink is Annabelle’s favorite color. As for the bad man who hurt Annabelle, Christian said, “[He] should tell the truth and go to jail. That’s a bad thing [he did].”

Elijah, 12, who was with his mother Monica Garcia of San Angelo, agreed with Christian. “It’s a bad thing cause I know that he didn’t go to jail,” Elijah said. The boy said he has a one-year-old niece, Londyn, and he would have been upset if this would have happened to her. Now, he makes sure to keep a closer eye on her.

Elizabeth Groover, 11, who was with her mother, Amanda, also felt bad for what happened to Annabelle and couldn’t believe the outcome.

“I felt bad for the little girl because no one should be hurt like that. And [Boden] should go to jail for hurting someone like that, and not be on probation,” Elizabeth said. “I was really sad.”

Elizabeth also said by helping out and joining the protest with her mother, she hopes “the bad man is put in jail and [Annabelle] can live in peace.”

Other Victims and Their Injustice

Living in peace is not easy for victims of childhood sexual abuse, and Elizabeth’s mom, Amanda, like Hickey, knows all too well what Annabelle will face as she goes forward in her life. Sadly, Annabelle’s situation almost mirrors her own.

“I was raped at two as well,” Groover recalled. “It was my mom’s boyfriend. She got locked up in jail and he was supposed to take care of me and my sister. It hit really close to home because nothing happened to him either. I remember going to court. I don’t remember much, but I do remember going to court though and talking to the judge. My mom said that after court, he disappeared, and we haven’t seen him since. That’s why this hit so close to home. This can happen all over again, and it’s not right."

Groover said as a result of the rape, she faced some tough times. She started doing drugs at a young age and became sexually promiscuous; however, when she had Elizabeth, that changed.

“It made me wake up,” she said.

Unfortunately, Groover’s older sister, who was also raped and six at the time this happened, wasn’t so lucky.

“She’s far gone. She went the wrong way unfortunately. She can’t fight her demons,” Groover said.

Groover added that what happened to her also affected her marriage of 11 years somewhat, but luckily, she has a supportive husband who helped her cope. In fact, it was he who encouraged both Amanda and Elizabeth to attend the rally Saturday and the protest on Monday.

For Elijah’s mom, Monica Garcia, however, having a man in her life is not an option after overcoming sexual abuse. Similar to Hickey and Groover, Garcia attended the event because of what happened to her. She was six when her abuse started, and up until the age of 14, several male family members had sexually abused her. Although at the age of 40, she no longer fears these people, she still has a hard time forgetting, especially the older men who did what they did. Additionally, she prefers to stay single because she can’t trust men to be around her children, and now, granddaughter.

"Even though I believe there’s some good in the world, I don’t trust,” Garcia said.

Like Annabelle, Hickey and Groover, Garcia’s perpetrators also went free and live their lives today like nothing ever happened. For her, silence is a cultural thing.

“We were always told to be quiet, to keep it hushed,” she said about how Latinos/as are taught to deal with sexual abuse.

By being there for Annabelle, however, this is Garcia’s way of giving a voice to the horrific thing that happened to her and continues to happen to other children because of the lax laws dealing with child molesters like Boden.

The Mother Blamers and the Supporters

In addition to the outcome of Tuesday’s ruling, Hickey, Jacquez, Muñoz, Norwood and Garcia were upset at the “mother blaming” taking place on social media.

“Annabelle’s mother was at work, and many women have to do so. Lots of mothers are married and have boyfriends,” Hickey said. “Well, you don’t have a boyfriend if you don’t trust your boyfriend. If it’s someone you don’t trust, he’s not your boyfriend. She trusted him. He gave her no reason not to. So when she was out making a living, she left her children in his care, and there were people on San Angelo LIVE! pointing a finger at her for that. I noticed mostly men were doing that.”

Norwood said, “You can’t blame someone because it’s not like they have a sign on their head. I have little brothers and wouldn’t hesitate to leave them with the people I know because we normally don’t expect something like this to happen.”

Because of this negativity, all the people who will be out at Monday’s event, even though they don’t know Annabelle, her mother, or the family personally, they do hope they will know that there are people out there who do care, who do want justice, and who support her.

“I don’t know Annabelle, but I was Annabelle,” Hickey said. “It breaks my heart not only knowing what happened to her, but also what she’s going to face the rest of her life, and it’s just wrong.”

As for Boden, the protesters said they know things may not be done to change the ruling in his case, but they do hope for change in future cases. They also hope he will commit another offense that will land him in jail. However, it’s just sad that it will likely take him victimizing another child to do so, said Hickey, which is something they don't want to happen. She believes pedophiles like Boden should be given life in prison without parole because they ruin children’s lives, and will continue to do so if given the chance.

“Why would a grown person have the need and want to do these things to little innocent children?” Hickey asked. “People like Boden are murderers. They are murderers of innocence.”