A mother has revealed how she still visits her son in prison, despite him admitting to murdering his sister purely to ‘punish’ their mum.
Paris Bennett, from Abilene, Texas, was just 13 years old when he fatally beat and stabbed his four-year-old sister, Ella, multiple times as she slept.
Bennett, now 25, is currently serving a 40-year jail term in a state prison called Ferguson Unit. This is the maximum sentence available for a juvenile in Texas.
The 25-year-old’s story recently came to light in the chilling documentary, Psychopath with Piers Morgan, in which the broadcaster went behind bars to try to understand why Bennett could have committed such a heinous crime.
After speaking to him – behind heavily reinforced glass and with Bennett being monitored by armed guards at all times – Morgan came to realise his motives all too clearly.
At the age of 13, Bennett decided he wanted to punish his mum, Charity, for reasons known only to him. Killing four-year-old Ella was, in his mind, the perfect way to do this because his mum would lose both her children at once.
Bennett, who has since been diagnosed as a psychopath by medical experts, walked into his sister’s bedroom while his mum was at work, beat and choked her, before stabbing her with a kitchen knife 17 times.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Morgan explained Charity, 45, told him:
If Paris had killed me as he originally intended, I’d have only suffered for a brief few moments. But by killing Ella instead, he knew he was sentencing me to a lifetime of suffering.
When asked by the broadcaster what he should expect from her son when interviewing him, Charity told him he’ll be ‘nice, personable, and polite’ because he’s a psychopath.
The 45-year-old, who now has another child, aged six, also told Morgan she has forgiven her son for murdering her only daughter.
Asked how she could forgive her son and continue to love him, let alone continue to visit him in prison, Charity didn’t hesitate in her response.
She told Morgan:
Well, he’s my son. And as a parent, I’ve always believed you give your children unconditional love. He obviously has a mental health issue – he’s a psychopath – but I don’t know how to stop loving my children.
Bennett is up for parole in 2027, with experts believing him to remain a very clear and present danger – particularly to those closest to him.
With Charity now having another young child, Phoenix, whom she needs to protect, the mother has to take this into consideration and says she will do so ‘when the time comes’.
The 45-year-old explained:
There will come a point in time where I will not be able to mother both of my children and when the time comes to make that choice, Phoenix will come first.
She added that she’s ‘developing a greater ability’ to walk away from her eldest son, saying she ‘understands what the risks are’.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).