Bermuda's justice system let down Rebecca Middleton. Now, after years of fighting, her family is finally letting go

No Justice For Becky!

This was true when that was the headline of the Dec. 16, 1998, Toronto Sun. It is true today and it looks like it will just be the way it is for the family of 17-year-old Rebecca Jane Middleton, who was viciously slain in Bermuda on July 3, 1996.

Battered, beaten, bruised and broke, her family of Belleville has finally thrown in the towel trying to get the island nation's pathetic legal system to overturn the court rulings that allowed her two alleged killers to walk free.

Her father says, with regret, they will no longer fight the system and will abandon all future requests for public inquiries and new charges.

"You have got to be practical at some point in your life," 58-year-old David told the Sun yesterday. "We have been trying for all of these years and it is just so expensive with the chances for success being so slim."

He knows this from experience. He and his ex-wife, Cindy Bennett, have been in this battle for a dozen years and have been pushed back and financially drained by a system that seems to just not want to get to the truth. More than $100,000 of their own money has been spent with no results.

Even with international support and an application for judicial review by famed British lawyer Cherie Booth, wife of ex-PM Tony Blair, little headway has been accomplished and this case has never been re-opened and no one has ever been properly tried.

If for no other reason than to protect their own citizens and image, you'd think the island of Bermuda would want to get to the bottom of how something like this could happen. After all, it's difficult to accept that a girl was stabbed 35 times and sexually assaulted and no one has to pay.

But that is what has transpired here. The man charged with first-degree murder was let go after the judge instructed the jury to do so based on the fact that the DNA found on her body was that of his friend who had been charged with accessory after the fact. It was a prosecution screwup in the worst order and very easy to overturn by recharging the alleged offenders and retrying the case.

It just doesn't seem to be in the cards. "When you get to step 300, it's time to take a step back and wonder if you are going in circles," Middleton told The Belleville Intelligencer this week.

It ends now. His voice sombre he said the family has to think of Becky's three nieces.

"They all need to grow up without this enormous cloud over them. We don't want this to be our family's only focus," he said. "All three of the girls have Rebecca's name in theirs."

Emma Rebecca, 5, Mary Jane, 3, and Samantha Jane, 2, all recognize her picture and stories of her will be part of their lives. "They know it's Aunt Becky and that she is in heaven. Becky is not forgotten. We talk about her every day as if she is around the corner."

No stubbornness, incompetence or stupidity by the legal system in Bermuda can take that from them. "I just hope this does not happen to someone else," said Middleton. "This did happen here and everybody walked away."

And they got away with rape and murder in the process.

Perhaps some are even celebrating the Middleton's decision. They have done this before. If you look at that same front page mentioned above, you'll see a picture of some people cheering when Justis Smith, then 18, was set free. I was there and saw this and it made me sick to my stomach -- almost as much as the kangaroo court and island justice that preceded it.

What I found there in the judicial system was a bunch of cowards and followers --none of whom wanted to step out and say we owe this family an honest and thorough judicial examination. Luckily it wasn't their teenaged daughter it happened to.

It is a spectacular island -- perhaps the most beautiful in the world. But I would never send your daughter there. It's just not worth the risk. If the evidence from this case doesn't scare you, it should. There have been plenty of incidents since -- including Justis Smith getting 11 months in jail after a girl was stabbed. He's still free today.

It does drive David Middleton crazy and he wishes they would have "hanged." But he realizes there comes a point when you have to stop the madness and focus on the rest of your life. That time is now. "You know Bermuda is a nice place and we met a lot of wonderful people," he said. "But the justice system sucks."

Rest in peace, Becky. That's about all you can do now.

and according to Mottley