“If it were your child, you would’ve done the same thing too.”
Watching on in horror back home, 11-year-old Jody Plaunché could not believe what his father had just done.
Gary was hailed as a hero by the American people for his act of brutal revenge captured on live TV.
But for Jody, witnessing his dad slay his karate coach rapist has only added to the pain.
The attack on paedo Jeff Doucet happened at Baton Rouge Metropoliton Airport on March 16, 1984.
As the paedophile was being shipped back for sentencing he was hauled in front of waiting TV cameras.
Aware of the exact location of his son’s abuser, Gary waited in the shadows hiding under a baseball cap and sunglasses, ready to strike.
Live news cameras covering the case caught the moment Gary quickly turned around after pretending to use a pay phone and unleashed a fatal strike.
Gary drew his gun, pulled the trigger and fired a single shot into the side of the paedo’s head at point blank range.
The dramatic footage of Doucet’s body dropping to the ground surrounded by police soon went viral as Gary was hailed as a hero across the world.
Police who arrested Gary at the airport asked him why he pulled the trigger.
He responded: “If it were your child, you would’ve done the same thing, too.”
Jody, who was just 11 years old when he was taken and mistreated by the wicked karate instructor, believes that his father chose to allow the sexual predator to escape punishment by taking his life.
Months of twisted abuse
Karate teacher Doucet had lured Jody into his dojo before forcing him to endure a horrific campaign of sexual abuse.
Jody trained with Doucet virtually every single day alongside dozens of unsuspecting parents and children.
But after each practice, Doucet would abuse Jody in a backroom of the sports centre.
Jody remained silent about the abuse for months.
And his parents were excited for their boy to be out and doing sports so didn’t see the signs as they emerged.
The mistreatment escalated as Doucet managed to evade accountability for his heinous behavior until the day he became anxious when a warrant was issued for his arrest related to fraud charges.
His twisted mind soon created a plan which would allow him to flee the cops as well as continue his reign of torment over a young Jody.
One morning, the paedo teacher arrived at the Plauchés’ doorstep and asked to take Jody was a ride in his car.
He promised the boy’s mother he would be 15 minutes.
Instead, Doucet took the boy almost 2,000 miles away from his home in Louisiana to a private motel in California.
When they arrived, Doucet knew he was in trouble for both the abduction and the fraud issues.
To hide himself he shaved his beard and dyed Jody’s blond hair a dark black.
He then spent days raping and molesting the 11-year-old, Jody said.
It took an agonising 10 days for the hell to finally end.
Doucet was caught after police raided the motel after Jody phoned up his heartbroken mum who thought he had gone missing.
Dad’s haunting decision
But Jody told The Sun Online that he wasn’t happy with his dad’s revenge killing and would have preferred his abuser to rot in jail.
Jody, now in his 50s, said: “At first I was upset with what my father did because at age 11 – I just wanted Jeff to stop and not necessarily dead.”
He later told the MailOnline: “Jeff would’ve likely gone to prison for the rest of his life, but Daddy gave him the easy way out.”
Gary only spent the weekend in jail as he was spared prison time in favour of probation and community service.
Officials instead handed him a suspended sentence for manslaughter.
It is more important for a parent to be there to help support their child than put themselves in a place to be prosecuted
Jody Plauche
The judge ruled that due to the nature of the crime and Gary’s prior clean record he was unlikely to commit another crime in the future.
Despite his dad walking free and the family being reunited, Jody continued to be upset by his dad’s actions.
Gary continued to say he didn’t regret killing as Jody explained why he was hurt.
This led to a fracture developing in their relationship which was already opening up due to Doucet’s despicable crimes.
The paedo claimed he was jealous of Gary and Jody’s relationship and wanted to prove to the child he “loved him more”, Jody said.
The footage of the shooting was huge news in the US when it happened with Jody seeing it on the TV and in the newspaper.
He remembered feeling like it “wasn’t real” the first few times he saw it but continued to watch it “over and over” again.
And the more times Jody saw it the more mad he became at his dad.
When his mum first spoke about the attack with him, Jody said he actually burst into tears with rage.
His emotions were made even worse by the reaction of people who supported Gary.
Jody said: “I think for a lot of people who have not been satisfied by the American justice system my dad stands as a symbol of justice.
“My dad did what everybody says what they would do yet only few have done it. Plus, he didn’t go to jail.
“That said, I can not and will not condone his behaviour. I understand why he did what he did.
“But it is more important for a parent to be there to help support their child than put themselves in a place to be prosecuted.”
He told me he figured he was going to die so he felt he had nothing to lose
Jody Plauche
Eventually things did get back to normal as Gary explained his actions to his son.
“He told me he figured he was going to die so he felt he had nothing to lose,” Jody explained.
“He told me one of them, if not both of them were gonna die that night.”
Jody also admitted he didn’t have much anger towards Docuett at the time despite what he put him through.
Now Jody understands the paedophile was a “complete sociopath who lacked feeling or empathy for others and only used people for his own gain”.
Five years after his dad died of a stroke in 2014, Jody released a book on the situation titled: “Why, Gary, Why?”.
The name was inspired by one officer’s comments when he pinned Gary to the ground inside the airport.
Jody had first started writing about his experiences in 1993, but shelved it until he picked it up again in 2016.
