To think being bullied doesn't justify stabbing someone in the face?

[Topaz25]

So this article popped up in my newsfeed today. Teenager stabs girl in the face and beats another black and blue because they called him HARRY POTTER
www.facebook.com/dailymirror/posts/552566581523132

I was shocked at the amount of comments defending him! I was bullied as a child so I do understand it is devastating but that doesn't justify stabbing someone in the face! He didn't just lash out in the moment, he went home to get a knife to cause maximum damage, he lead the girls to the park, he thought this through. He is a danger to the public. I am also surprised at the sentence, I think stabbing someone in the face while shouting "die, die!" indicates intent to kill and should have been charged accordingly. I do wonder if his supporters would want to live next to him when he gets out or have him round to dinner since he is so misunderstood? I don't agree with bullying but when he attacked two younger girls I feel he effectively became the bully, it was a massive overreaction to the situation and he had other options. AIBU?

also, you some of you not realise quite how vile 15/16 year old girls can be? I'd be willing to bet it wasn't as simple as 'you resemble harry potter'.

are you now implying that anyone would react differently if this was two lads rather than girls?

He did lure them, he knew they would follow him - there's a massive difference which you are intent on ignoring despite it being pointed out to you a number of times now

I'm sorry FarrowandBall but who gave you the status of teacher of my thoughts? Unless you are the judge who sat on the case (which you are not) why on earth are you telling other people what to think?

The reason society has broken down so that crimes such as this happen is because of this attitude that there is some way of circumventing the law, no-one is ever responsible for their actions because there is always an excuse, and the flawed reasoning that one excuse is better than another because someone shouts louder about it.

"And of course the question is asked, as it always is with violence against women, what did she do to deserve it?"

It's pretty clear what they did. This wasn't gender based violence, it was violence against people who had pushed him to the edge. Those people happened to be female. Had they been male it might not of happened but only because, in general boys are stronger and then the story would be about a young man who was mercilessly bullied, followed to a park and beaten to death.

I don't know. What I do know is whenever a woman/girl is attacked someone will say she deserved it, even if the response is out of proportion to the perceived provocation.

also, you some of you not realise quite how vile 15/16 year old girls can be? I'd be willing to bet it wasn't as simple as 'you resemble harry potter'.

Of course 15 and 16 year old girls can be bitches. It doesn't justify beating or stabbing them.

Vampyre also, you some of you not realise quite how vile 15/16 year old girls can be? I'd be willing to bet it wasn't as simple as 'you resemble harry potter'

But clearly not vile enough to stab one victim and viciously beat another?

I really wouldn't tend to be taken in by all this at all. Some criminals are incredibly good at garnering sympathy. Ian Brady has a legion of female supporters, as do many violent criminals. I'm not for one moment suggesting anything like this has happened here, just that I would tend to stick to the facts as proven in court and the judgment and sentence handed down, rather than a group of shouty would-be vigilantes on an internet forum.

"LessMiss" I don't have a problem with what's orthodox or not. My mission in life is not to be approved of, just to be able to live in peace. I don't have a problem with the sentence he's been given either, but yes I do have understanding of what lead him there.

Where I live the most likely punishment for knife crime is to later be slashed or killed by a bigger bully with a better knife. The police generally get involved in clearing up after the event. (not that I'm blaming them for being unable to premeditate when and where, but most here know the who, including them.)

Depending on the law to make everything ok in a place where that isn't possible, and even when truely horrific things happen to entirely innocent victims, people aren't going to be naming names, changes how you view things.

It's disingenuous to say he lured them, unless you're acknowledging that going out anywhere they could see him, would lead to him being followed and subjected to further harassment by them.

I'm not saying it justifies a stabbing or a beating but for fuck's sake, don't fool yourselves into thinking it was just a bit of name calling.

ian brady, what an odd comparison. his legions of female supporters are probably his supporters because of the crimes he committed - there are some sick bastards out there, a great many murderers have 'fans'.

in this case, however, no innocent children were brutally murdered.

I don't think it is disingenuous to say that he lured his victims JustGettingOnWithIt and although we don't yet have a case report, I bet that was put before the court and was a central element of the case against him.

Look at the facts we do know: he poured a pint of water over them, then returned to his house for a knife, so you can already make a case for him having the act of stabbing and violently attacking them in his mind at this stage. ie before he left the house. If they really did bully him, or even if there was a prior history of antagonism between the three, he would have been conscious that his prior act of pouring water over them would have reignited any antagonism.

He then went to a public place, with plenty of space, away from crowds and carried out his second assault of the day on his bullies.

That is where it differs from a run of the mill snap response to bullying.

Now if there had been no water throwing prior and if he had not been carrying a knife, then the crime carried out by him would have been quite different. But that isn't what happened.

Vampyre there is a well recognised phenomenon of women being attracted to, and making excuses for, violent male offenders. Its known as hybristophilia. If you think it only applies to well known sex offenders then you are incorrect.

Its quite easy to see a number of posters on here who see the assailant as an innocent little boy who can do no wrong and who become very angry when their entrenched view of him is challenged.

Not one person has said he is innocent, only that most posters can see why it got to the stage that it did.

sorry, at which point did I say it only applies to sex offenders? you should never underestimate how much a person may or may not know about something tbh.

I don't see him as an innocent little boy but if I did I would say it was more justified than believing his bullies were innocent little girls. Was this his first offence, does anyone know?

it is possible for a person to 'lose it' mentally and still be capable of planning an attack. he might have had mental health issues and was just pushed too far that day. whatever the case, I have zero sympathy for his bullies/victims.

He lured them by being who he was in their presence walkng past them with the knowledge they'd automatically follow him.

Our school made my ds come into school early, leave late, and not use the bus, because in their minds the problem was that the perpetrators couldn't be expected not to harrass or harm him if they could see him.

It's that sort of thinking that allows people like those girls to expect to be able to taunt and interfere with people like him.

I certainly don't see him as an innocent little boy, I see him as a messed up young man who's been severely bullied for (at the time) half his life, and has done something horrific, and recognises that.

I'd have him as a neighbour over them even with what he's done, because treat him with decency and he's unlikely to be a problem.

Treat them with decency they're likely to see you as someone they can push about.

Nothing to do with hybristophilia, just pragmatism.

I'd be extremely curious to know how those defending the girls would feel if their own son was on the receiving end of 'taunts' (bullying) and snapped like that.

Topaz re your 'don't I define it as violence against women' no, not in the normal use of the term I don't. Owning a vagina doesn't give you an automatic victim card if your intentional bullying and harrasment of a male goes wrong for you, regardless of what age you are.

I'm extremely curious to know if those defending Ryan Walker would feel the same if he'd stabbed their children?

also, if he was the type of person to stab someone over a wee bit of name calling then I'm amazed that he hasn't stabbed anyone before (afaik). this, in my opinion, is a bloke who has been very much provoked. it's not justification but it is the reason he did it, I believe.

Farrowandbawl "Girls are bitches. End of."

Well, that's just lovely, isn't it?

I'd be angry, of course, but I'd be extremely upset if I found out my children were bullies. so how would you react if he was your son topaz?

I think being stabbed in the face gives you an automatic victim card! They were the victims of a violent crime. I don't believe that they brought it on themselves, his reaction was grossly out of proportion to theirs.