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?

BackOnBriefly How did he know? The only way would be if they always followed him. So he was being bullied and stalked. Something that also carries a prison sentence

Entirely possible that he was harassing them and it was a bit of both - throwing a pint of water over people does seem quite likely to irritate them. They were obviously not the shy and retiring type of girls but he had already retaliated to the name calling by a rather odd assault. The whole incident is disturbing but seems a lot more complex than them bullying and harassing him and him being an entire innocent. I wouldn't necessarily be taken in by all this talk of him being a victim.

That is why the court has not given him a reward but jailed him for 4 1/2 years. It is an extremely serious offence.

I wonder how different some of the responses would be if he was a girl (not allowed to use the word "young") who followed two boys to the park, stabbed one and beat the other.

Treating men like little emperors who can do no wrong does no good in society at all. I am astonished that so many people on here cannot distinguish between a violent criminal act and alleged name calling.

I sometimes wonder if I read the same Mumsnet as other people. I cannot imagine for one second that there would be less sympathy for the defendant if the sexes had been reversed.

Also, it's really really REALLY important to make the point that he did not follow them to the park and that what actually happened was that they followed him.

I wonder how different some of the responses would be if he was a girl (not allowed to use the word "young") who followed two boys to the park, stabbed one and beat the other.

He didn't follow them, they followed him, which shows that they do this a lot if he is able to predict their behaviour.

Treating men like little emperors who can do no wrong does no good in society at all.

No one is doing that or said that.

I am astonished that so many people on here cannot distinguish between a violent criminal act and alleged name calling.

I'm astonished that so many people think those girls are innocent in all this and can not distinguish between harrassment, stalking and bullying to "a little name calling".

To be fair SaucyJack I was really gobsmacked when I read some of your posts about this crime. I was shocked. Your comments are horrific.

Sounds terrible I know but I was badly bullied at Primary Scgool and it still affects me 30 years later. I seriously considered stabbing the ringleader at times and if I hd had a weapon to hand when it was going on I can't honestly say I wouldn't have done it
Obviously stabbing someone isn't justified but I can see how this boy could " snap"

I think Mumsnet would be even more on the side of a female victim of bullying who got to the point she went out armed. Not less!

The girls may not have always followed him, we don't know this for sure.

Maybe he 'knew' they would follow him because he chucked water all over them. I'm sure they won't have been happy with it and waited for him to re-emerge.

I feel sorry for the man (and I do believe at 19 he is a man. I most certainly would of said I was an adult at this age) as he was bullied but the girls didn't deserve the severity of punishment he dished out and in beating the girls even just the once he did sort of become a bully because he attacked them with a weapon when the couldn't defend. It maybe was ongoing bullying like he sustained but still.
Neither side Is right in what they done but he deserves the sentence and knows he was very wrong.

Run out of anything sensible to say LessMiss ?

I haven't said anything different to the majority of posters.

Just to clarify, btw, he was actually 18 and they were 15 and 16.

www.hampshire.police.uk/internet/news-and-appeals/2013/october/201013-southampton-assault-charge-44130395967

Legally a man, but certainly still perceived as within the peer group of these girls.

The place he lived does appear to be social housing:

maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=so19+6ja&hl=en&ll=50.906445,-1.332502&spn=0.000874,0.001635&sll=51.241515,-0.565423&sspn=0.111121,0.209255&t=h&hnear=Southampton+SO19+6JA,+United+Kingdom&z=20&layer=c&cbll=50.906445,-1.332502&panoid=tYIeMbbifz8Cbpl47Um9aQ&cbp=12,150.22,,0,5.24

I am not clear what these girls were doing there, there were three of them, the two addresses given were respectively a few hundred yards and a mile and a half away, but maybe the third one lived there. Not really sure.

www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/11001561.Monstrous__Jail_for_youth_who_stabbed_girl_in_the_face_and_beat_up_her_friend/

If this was a female being harassed and bullied by two males they would be the ones in prison.

Women want equality but surely that should involve men too?
Some women on here seriously need to read that article again if they think the girls are the victims and imagine it being their child being stalked and bullied.
The girls are bang out of order and are at as much fault as he is, more infact.
They followed him home, he couldn't even escape there that is so awful IMO. Home is the one place you should feel safe, and they weren't just ordinary bullies they were extremely cruel awful people

I think he deserves every day in prison. I think they didn't just 'call him a name.' I can understand how someone could be driven to this through sustained harassment. The fact that he knew they'd follow him speaks volumes.

I would also like you to consider how people would have reacted if he had turned the knife on himself and committed suicide instead of attacking the bullies.
That outcome could have been equally as likely as him attacking them.
They wouldn't be the victims then would they?
Evil girls

SaucyJack Run out of anything sensible to say LessMiss ?

Are you a child SaucyJack? If not, why do you write like one?

I have said nothing that is not sensible. None of us has any idea of how bad the alleged bullying was here. You could equally say that this man is a violent criminal who lured his victims to a park. The fact that he was able to throw a point of water over his supposed aggressors and then carry out a plan to lure them to a park to stab them indicates he was more than able to stand up for himself and did a bit more than "snap". Name calling and childish harassment does not justify a violent stabbing and beating. He is a violent criminal.

I wouldn't tend to believe any of the justifications for any of their actions and deal with the facts as proven in court only, which were clearly sufficient to convict. He will have had all sorts of pre-sentencing reports and psychological examinations carried out before being given a 4 1/2 year sentence for a first offence while so young.

I think there is a lot of projection going on in this thread.

Interesting links Aga

One of the 'victims' has nightmares and flashbacks and anxiety?

"I wish for the days back where I can go out and have fun with my friends, without being constantly anxious and looking over my shoulder"

"I can’t go out on my own anymore".

Well, welcome to the world of a bullying victim. I'm sure the same could be said by anyone who's been taunted by a group of girls who sat outside their house, waiting for them to come back so they could harrass them.

Spot on Moomin!

They will be lapping up the sympathy from family and friends.
My parents would be deeply ashamed of me if I was one of those girls

I'd go as far to say that from the result of the sympathy and attention these girls will be getting, it will just reinforce their attutide that they have done nothing wrong, played no part in this and will continue to behave in this way if not worse to the next person.

They are at risk at the moment of not learning anything from this.

I don't think they'll learn a thing from this at all. They will always be the right.

Based on the comment from one of the mothers they think it's all his fault too.
It is a huge shame, I hope that their communities aren't as forgiving

Isn't it funny that after he snapped he was remorseful and pleaded guilty. The girls and their parents however seem to be outraged and insist he should be locked up for longer - that they are the innocent party. Speaks fucking volumes to me.

Poor boy.

And as usual when a bullied person snaps, he/she gets the blame while the bully walks free.

Her wounds will heal, but she is still a nasty person, and she will have her freedom.

It is different from him.

I wish bullying would be made a criminal offence, but I guess the justice system would not cope with such a large percentage of the population standing trial and serving time.

I don't think it's long enough.

I have been bullied and snapped. I do know what that feels like.

Had he turned around on the stairs and punched one of them, I'd understand. EVEN if he had run up into his flat, grabbed a knife and run straight down, slashing at them. I'd still say he snapped and have a lot of sympathy.

But he didn't 'snap'. He went into the flat, got water, threw it over them and went back in (fair enough). Then, he found a knife, walked to the park knowing they would follow and then commited a brutal attack on them. It was calculated and I agree that in theory it IS similar to US shootings at schools where the shooter is often a 'poor' bullied boy.

He's the luckiest 'boy' in the World at the moment because if his knife had hit a few inches lower and had one of the girls in the neck he'd probably be doing life right now.

They were 15&16

Yes it says he was bullied at school but by girls 3 years younger than him -I don't think so

Do you honestly believe that 15/16 year old girls are not capable of bullying a 19 y/o boy?

Or do you think that he should have just asserted his innate male dominance and told them to fuck off?

It was not attempted murder. He very clearly lost control. All those saying it was 'pre-meditated': the girls were harassing him, he threw water on them, they persisted in harassing him. This was one fluid event. Yes, he went home and got a knife (NB. not a particularly sharp or large one. If I was premeditating murder, I think I'd go for something a bit larger). Possibly this was for protection or maybe he had already lost it with them in his mind, but it doesn't mean he was in a right state of mind and 'planned' it.

He deserves the sentence given, that's his consequence and I hope he feels genuine remorse.

I have zero sympathy for the girls though - I hope they've learned a life lesson. They are not victims imo.

Some people are baying for more blood though, Monica.

There's no excuse for violence, but there's no excuse for following someone around harrasing them either.