November 18, 2002
WORTH CO. - Debra Benson spent part of her Monday looking back at photos of what appears to be a happy family. Her mother, father and three siblings, seated with Debra holding her brother Daniel. But she says her childhood was stolen from her by an abusive father, Darrell Tucker.
"I remember many times when I was beaten I would crawl up into lap of my mother for comfort." Benson said. "Because I did that, he'd pull me from her lap and beat me some more."
Two of Bensons siblings were taken from the family, because they reported the abuse. But Debra said as a young girl she was too scared to say anything.
"It's a horrific choice, tell and be removed and abandoned or keep silent and live with it," she said.
Benson kept silent for decades until she was told that her brother Daniel and her father were abusing her brother's four daughters.
"All the things I feared as a child came face to face with me in reality, had a choice to make."
The choice she made was to put aside the shame and guilt often associated with being an abuse victim, and turn in her father and brother. Now she's encouraging others to do the same, and is even using her library of books on abuse to start Worth County's first abuse support group. It meets Thursdays in Sylvester at the Candy Shop.
Debra Benson's father goes on trial in Moultrie December 2nd.
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