Family fundraising for private investigator in search for missing Vancouver Island child

Editor’s note: The missing child in this story was located safe and sound on April 20, 2022. The name and image have been removed from this story. 

It’s been nearly a month since police on Vancouver Island first appealed for help to finding a missing child, after they say Jesse Bennett failed to return her to her mother.

On Tuesday, the RCMP said the search “remains very active and ongoing,” with investigators following up on any and all tips they receive.

Avery Myall is godmother to the little girl she describes as joyful and bright with endless energy and a lot of self-confidence.

The last few weeks, Myall says, have been a nightmare.

“It’s very stressful to not know where your family is. No matter what people reassure you with — living with the unknown is really just gut-wrenching,” 

“She’s stressed, she’s overwhelmed. We feel like we need to be moving and doing something at every moment, but it feels like right now that any way forward is just frozen. I think that’s the worst part for her, is she feels like everything’s just happening around her,” Myall says.

RELATED: RCMP still searching for Vancouver Island father, 7-year-old daughter

Myall says those who know, love, and miss the child are confident the police are taking the case seriously, and doing everything they can to find Violet and Jesse. But they have recently launched a GoFundMe that will, among other things, help pay for a private investigator.

“We’re not saying that the police aren’t doing their jobs or anything like that. But as a mother, as a family, we feel like if we don’t exhaust every option we have — there may be regrets later on.” 

“In the beginning, we were thinking, ‘Any day now, she’s going to be home.’ Now, it’s getting to the point where anxiety is really raised up. We feel like we need to take any options out there….We’re just working towards family reunification, and that’s the most important part for us,” Myall continues.

https://twitter.com/N_CowichanRCMP/status/1487165604373008384

The child’s mom works full-time, something that is getting more difficult as the days go by. Donations to the online fundraiser will also be used to let Hall take unpaid time off if she needs to.

“Roget has a home where [the child] lives and even though she’s missing, it needs to be there when she comes back. She may need to take time off work, to work with the authorities to search for her child, to take whatever options that are out there for her to take,” Myall says.

The possibility that the child will need counselling when she is returned is another thing Myall says they are thinking about.

“This is not an easy time … She may not understand exactly what’s going on, but children miss their parents,” she said.

“I’m sure that there’s going to be questions that she has, and she may need some extra support other than just her family when she comes home.”

On a more hopeful note, Myall says having a bit of a financial cushion would also allow Hall to take time off to spend as much time as she can with her daughter when she comes home.

Police became involved after court ordered they could intervene 

The North Cowichan RCMP first appealed to the public on Jan. 24, 2022. In their initial statement, they said a Victoria court ordered Jesse Bennett to return the child to her mother on Jan. 20.

“To date, police and family have not been able to make contact with Jesse… We believe that Jesse Bennett is actively evading police and is in breach of the custody order,” wrote Sgt. Trevor Busch.

Both Myall and Hall say that court order came after Jesse had withheld the child for months, only allowing minimal contact. While pleading with Jesse to return the child, Hall also went to court to get an order that would enable police to intervene.

Myall says they were hopeful that this order would be enough to get Jesse to give the child back to her mother.

“It’s overwhelmingly frustrating,” she says. “At the end of the day, you’re in the exact same position that you were the day before, even though you feel like you’ve jumped through a million hoops. It felt like it took an eternity to be in the exact same position.”

https://twitter.com/N_CowichanRCMP/status/1489351980103266305

‘To be able to actually get the order, you’re waiting until something has already gone wrong’: lawyer

In B.C., calling the police if a co-parent doesn’t return a child at the agreed-upon time isn’t an option. They can’t get involved unless the court makes an order that the parenting agreement is “police enforceable.”

Kim Hawkins, the Executive Director of Rise Women’s Legal Centre in Vancouver, explains what needs to be proven in court to agree to make this kind of order.

“They need to show that there has been an actual denial of parenting time, they have to show that the denial of parenting time was wrongful, and that there’s no other way to address the problem except for the police enforcement clause,” she says.

Prior to 2013, a parent could get a police enforceable court order if they were concerned the other party would not follow the terms of their custody agreement. Hawkins says that is simply no longer the case.

“In order to be able to actually get the order, you’re waiting until something has already gone wrong,” she says.

“Family court, the legal system in general, is not very good at dealing with future risks.”

Hall described her situation in a statement she wrote soon after the child was declared missing,

“Our previous court order was not police enforceable. I knew she was safe in Duncan with him, and so i went through the right court channels to get her back,” she said.

“This time it was deemed necessary to have our court order police enforceable to make sure this never happened again. Unfortunately, it has led to this. I didn’t want it to get this far. I just wanted my daughter back with me to return to her normal life. Before, at least I knew she was safe. But now I fear for her safety. I have no idea where she is, if she’s okay, if she’s even with him. As a mother, I don’t know how to handle this situation. I feel shattered, broken, numb to everything.”

An Amber Alert has not been issued in this case because “there are strict criteria which are required to be met before issuing an Amber Alert, including a belief that the child is in danger,” the RCMP previously told CityNews.

“At this point, we do not believe that the child’s father would put her in danger, but we need public assistance to locate them.”

An Amber Alert can be issued in cases involving a child’s parent, but “it is not intended for cases involving parental abductions, except in life-threatening situations.”

Jesse is 36 years old, 5’10”, 160 lbs., with blue eyes and brown hair, he may be shaved or with a beard.

If you have information about Jesse Bennett’s whereabouts you are asked to contact the police in your jurisdiction, or the North Cowichan RCMP at 250-748-5522.