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?

That's different to trying to cause their deaths. Of course I wouldn't feel sad if my bullies died, we don't exactly have a bond. I would feel indifferent. But I wouldn't try to kill them, that's very different!

Sorry that was a reply to Vampyre.

*former bullies.

i don't think this was an attempted murder, quite frankly.

Then why did he scream die and why did he arm himself with a potentially deadly weapon? If he had stabbed her just a bit lower she could have died.

It's pure luck that he didn't kill her, the blade broke and she was able to run away.

Honestly cannot believe what I am reading on here. Thankfully the courts don't have such a response. Imagine the state the country would be in if violent knife crime were justified by name calling. The assailant had the opportunity to return to his own home following his first (supposedly retaliatory) assault on his victims.

Some people really have some very muddled attitudes to crime and vigilantism.

Because he was traumatised??

When my child was bullied, by girls, younger than him - he had been raised that we don't hit women or children.

So he didn't react or bite back, he stayed stum and quiet. If the abuse he suffered at their hands had been perpetrated by a boy against a girl - people would have been up in arms about it.

Because it was girl's and a boy I felt it was not taken seriously and we as a family felt belittled.

I don't know enough about this so am not commenting on this case - but I do know how victims of bullying can snap.

Yes but its violent knife crime Weekends. Knife crime is treated so seriously by the courts because it so often ends in death. There was also planning, pre-meditation, a prior assault, arming himself with a dangerous weapon and a further vicious assault. People respond to trauma in different ways, but if there had been a valid defence, then it would have succeeded and he would have been found not guilty. He wasn't. People on here seem to be arguing that not only were the courts wrong in convicting him and sentencing after such a serious assault, but were in some way stupid and foolish in a way that the vigilante section of mumsnet are not.

Topaz I’m sorry you have been bullied, and I understand you wanting to be safe, but the reality is you aren’t, and it’s not because others say they understand what happened here, or those with stronger views who find it justified.

Calling the police does little except prove to them that nothing will happen of any consequence.

Several of my ds bullies are now dead as a result of their own actions. They choose to live like that and choose to make victims of people who don’t, and in the end some of those people will turn.

Do you think I wanted to end up feeling literally murderous? I didn't. I wanted a peaceful life and had worked for one. i wanted a different childhood for my ds, but others made sure he couldn't have it.

I absolutely agree that the level of violence was appalling, but that’s what you risk bringing to yourself when you decide you can push others around with impunity.

LessMiss most of us are arguing no such thing, we are saying this is what you risk when you behave the way they were, and his behaviour however shocking, and violent, is far more understandable, as having cause and effect, than theirs.

You don't actually get to define why I don't feel safe and part of the reason is that someone can try to kill two girls, damn near succeed, get 4.5 years, which he won't serve all of and when he gets out people will be waiting with tea and sympathy. And of course the question is asked, as it always is with violence against women, what did she do to deserve it? That makes me feel unsafe.

so one minute the Courts take knife crime very seriously and next this guy only got 4.5 years which he won't serve all of, implying they don't take it seriously enough?

yes he should serve this sentence because it is illegal to stab someone. if he had planned to murder them, he could have taken a more reliable weapon than a vegetable knife.

Those girls fucked with the wrong person and hopefully the little twats will think twice before taunting anyone again.

You're talking about two different people there. Another poster said the courts take knife crime seriously. I was the one who said I didn't think 4.5 years was enough.

You seem to be implying it's hypocritical somehow but different people have different opinions.

had the outcome been that he committed suicide as a result of the bullying, would you still be insisting 'it was only name-calling'?

Its not really a very orthodox view is it JustGettingOnWithIt? We don't live in a society where knife crime goes unpunished, or vigilante action is ignored. Unless you are privy to the full facts and psychological reports, I think its best to rely on the judgment of the court.

The trouble with the vigilante rabble rouser crowd is that they have a tendency to disintegrate into "you bullied me", "No, you bullied me", "No, you bullied me first".

You know the part about this that I find really disturbing though? The fact that he got a knife and lured two young girls to a park with the intention of violently assaulting them (having already assaulted them and returned to his home). I cannot believe people think bullying warrants this sort of behaviour and it does no justice to those victims of bullying who overcome it and do not resort to crime.

As I have said several times now, psychological reports will have been ordered before sentencing, and clearly the judge still felt he deserved 4 1/2 years.

But if his fans are so strongly in favour of him, they could always picket the prisons or mount a campaign to have him freed, instead of forcibly telling people on here they are annoying them with their perfectly orthodox views? Which sounds to me not a million miles like an attempt at bullying.

LURED them? what the fuck were they doing FOLLOWING him?!

4 1/2 years isn't that long and as topaz says, he'll probably be out before his sentence his served. I think it's quite lenient, I wonder why.

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.

*didn't lure them I mean.

and still, why were they following him?

oops sorry farrow.

I'm sorry Topaz I thought you'd defined that as reason for you not feeling safe further up thread. I'll re read.

Trying to include female bullies finding out their male victim isn't harmless as "violence against women" is IMO at best naive.

That's ok Vampyre.

I might have misread. Just to prevent any further misunderstanding are you saying you don't define a girl being stabbed in the face as violence against women? I suppose I should have said females since she isn't even an adult.