Good god there is some bollocks being spouted on this thread, not to mention multiple chips on shoulders and I’ve seen at east one person already trying to turn it into a gender issue when a poster inadvertently said “they”.
Ultimately, teenagers killed while driving too fast and without a licence isn’t really news-worthy. Not because it isn’t tragic, it is, but because it’s not unusual.
The very reason why insurance for under 25’s is so expensive is because under 25’s are a much higher risk. They often drive too fast take stupid risks, this particular driver went several steps further and didn’t have a licence or insurance (he won’t have had insurance if he lost his licence) so one might ask how he’s managed to lose his licence so young already unless of course the car was stolen. It’s unlikely that a 19 year old would have their own bmw, most insurers wouldn’t touch it.).
It’s highly unlikely that Marcus didn’t know that his friend was a reckless driver, the charges are too numerous to not know that. And had he survived friends and family would probably have said he was an idiot for getting into a car with an uninsured and banned driver. But ultimately none of that matters. They both took stupid risks and he paid the ultimate price.
It was a needless loss of life, and it doesn’t need analysing any further than that.
As for comments about racism and how all of this happened because he was black, what a load of rubbish. People know absolutely nothing about the mother of the girl’s motives, and the driver was uninsured, had no licence and was driving at speed, having a black person in the car didn’t make any difference to that.
The fact that Marcus had served time in Dubai is entirely irrelevant, but is the only reason why we’re even hearing about this.
As for the girl’s mother, if she’s particularly devout, then maybe that’s why she reported him, who knows. Should it have happened? On the face of it, no. But the truth is that whether we agree with the law or not, he did break the law in Dubai, and not knowing the law isn’t an excuse. If you travel another country then you need to acquaint yourself with the laws of that country, especially a country like Dubai where the laws on drinking and sex are well known.
It’s a bit like these people who travel to Thailand and the like carrying drugs, and who then think the British government should bail them out when they get thrown in jail and even sentenced to death.
Marcus’s crime wasn’t on that level of course, but that doesn’t change the fact that he broke the law in another country.
And the mother is in no way responsible for his death.