13 year old boy pushed into a river and drowned. No prosecution. AIBU to think this was not a ‘prank’,

[RopeyRuby]

Just seen this and remember the story.

The culprit knew he couldn’t swim and was old enough to understand the consequences IMO. One of the reasons for not prosecuting was it harming his ‘life chances’! What about poor Christopher who lost his? No trial so no closure for his mother.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60104439.amp

AIBU to think this is not right or just?

Horrific to think of the fear Christopher went through.

I dont think it's as clear cut as you make out. Given his friends jumped in to try save him, it looks closer to a horrific act of misjudgment.

Do you know what OP? If not heard the story but as soon as I read your OP, I knew the victim would be from some sort of BAME background and the perpetrator, white.
People will come along and justify it in all sorts of ways but it is what it is.

His poor mother.

What benefit do you think there would be in bringing a prosecution?

We have to look to what would be the right outcome for society as a whole, not just the grieving family.

For a crime to have been committed, there needs to be the appropriate mens rea which isn’t present in this case.

It was a stupid decision but they did try to save him. As if lots of us haven't done stupid things as teenagers. It's just tragic all round really.

@OniferousWasp

Do you know what OP? If not heard the story but as soon as I read your OP, I knew the victim would be from some sort of BAME background and the perpetrator, white. People will come along and justify it in all sorts of ways but it is what it is.

His poor mother.

I did too, but largely because it is very unusual for white boys of this age to be unable to swim, but very common in BAME communities.

I think it is right, and just.

The whole thing is extremely sad for his family, but prosecuting a 13 year old for horseplay gone wrong won't help anyone.

I genuinely don't know.

Teenagers do stupid things all the time, it's the kind of thing I could see my brothers/their friends etc doing at that age as a joke thinking they were funny and not thinking of the consequences.

I've seen plenty of videos of adults pushing each other into rivers/swimming pools as 'a prank'.

I really don't know, it was a really stupid thing to do, he knew he couldn't swim but they did try to save him and it could have easily been done as a 'prank'

It’s not like they were walking along the riverside path and the kid just shoved him in though, is it?

A group of them all went together to a place where they could jump in and swim. The child who died took his clothes off and had his swimming trunks on. He was saying he really wanted to go in.

Teenage idiocy not murder.

Isn't one of the things CPS have to take into account with these decisions, if it's the interest of the public, to charge? I guess ie if he's a danger to the public
I think perhaps this is one that comes under the category that they think it's not likely to happen ever again

But god I don't blame his mum for wanting to pursue it
I can't imagine what she's feeling

The right outcome would surely be upholding the idea that actions have consequences

Of course this should be looked into more. We are not talking about young children who do not understand the dangers of drowning

It’s absolutely tragic but he was even if unintentional to seriously harm this was bullying behaviour with a tragic outcome

I don’t have complete faith in the CPS or our justice system to always make the right decision

More likely no resourse in the justice system or the police. The bar for what the police and then the cps will look at is terrifying. My friend was raped. It will be 3.5 years when the case is heard. Why could that possibly be? No staff. No budget

There was no evidence of bullying behaviour though, and even if there were, it’s quite a leap to get from bullying to criminal offence.

This child was barely over the age of criminal responsibility, ruining his life would have literally zero benefit.

It's incredibly tragic, but I think you're misrepresenting what happened a little.

This wasn't a random malicious attack, this was a group of friends playing and swimming in the river. One of the group pushed Christopher into the water. The group then tried to rescue him. The article also says the one who pushed him "knew he was not good at swimming", not "knew that he could not swim". There's a small but very important difference there, legally.

You don’t think pushing a boy into a river who you know isn’t a good swimmer is boys will be boys silly prank behaviour. This wasn’t a swimming pool he was pushed into that isn’t funny or silly what would you say if you heard your child had done that

At least let this go to court and the evidence is fully heard the poor family deserves that

It just seems like a really sad story.

Christopher Kapessa river death: No prosecution decision upheld www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53475504

This article says he was standing in swimming trunks on the edge and had taken his shoes off. He'd apparently made comments about really wanting to go in, as well as comments to others about not being able to swim. A boy pushed him in as he stood on the rocks beside him. The same boy was one of the group who then tried to rescue him when it became clear he was in trouble.

I don't know how much would be achieved criminalising the boy responsible. I imagine the guilt has already made a massive impact on how his life will unfold. Obviously it shouldn't have happened but I'm not there was any suggestion it was malicious or premeditated, or that the boy who did it did so with the aim of harming him. Ruining another life doesn't really seem the answer.

I think it's foolish to imagine that prosecuting a crime, or even a conviction, brings closure. That's a very widespread viewpoint that ends up causing people a lot of heartache and probably bad decisions too. That's not what the justice system is meant for and it's far to blunt an instrument to be good at it.

I don't know if the decision was correct, but I think there does need to be space for the police and judicial system to make decisions about whether to pursue a case based on the circumstances. Otherwise it can be ultimately detrimental to society and also unjust.

It’s not clear cut as you have described.
The article describes that he ‘wasn’t good at swimming.’ That’s very different to not being able to swim.

@Ohdearthatwasntgreatwasit
but largely because it is very unusual for white boys of this age to be unable to swim, but very common in BAME communities

Do you have the stats to back up this comment?

This happened in my town,Christopher was in my daughters class,a terrible tragedy.A lot of the town is divided over what should have happened afterwards.

God that's such a tragic awful case all round.

[quote Soontobe60]@Ohdearthatwasntgreatwasit
but largely because it is very unusual for white boys of this age to be unable to swim, but very common in BAME communities

Do you have the stats to back up this comment?[/quote]
It’s common knowledge, and you have the ability to Google yourself presumably?

Here is a study that might interest you if you really cba to look for yourself.

@Soontobe60 it’s correct.

“ The Black Swimming Association (BSA), the first of its kind in the UK, aims to highlight the importance of swimming as an essential life skill after research from the World Health Organisation found the risk of drowning is higher among BAME communities.

Figures from Sport England show that 95% of black adults and 80% of black children do not go swimming at all, according to a survey of taken over two years.

By comparison, 89% of white British adults and 70% of white British children between the ages of five and 16 do not swim regularly.”

I am afraid that- as tragic as it is, it’s unreasonable to try to convict a 14 year old for manslaughter for pushing a friend in this way…
The poor lad was thinking of jumping in himself. He’d said he wasn’t a strong swimmer but not that he couldn’t swim. It was reasonable for the other lad, the pusher, to think he was just hesitant and needed a shove… had he been fully dressed and staying he couldn’t swim and been dragged over and pushed in then that would be different. Clearly.

This article says he was standing in swimming trunks on the edge and had taken his shoes off. He'd apparently made comments about really wanting to go in, as well as comments to others about not being able to swim. A boy pushed him in as he stood on the rocks beside him. The same boy was one of the group who then tried to rescue him when it became clear he was in trouble.

I don't know how much would be achieved criminalising the boy responsible. I imagine the guilt has already made a massive impact on how his life will unfold. Obviously it shouldn't have happened but I'm not there was any suggestion it was malicious or premeditated, or that the boy who did it did so with the aim of harming him. Ruining another life doesn't really seem the answer.

I agree with the above. Prank is probably the wrong word, it sounds horrible to call an action that took a life a 'prank'. It does seem that the pusher did not intend to harm his friend. I can imagine many young teens playing this way.

Yep that's why you hear so many warnings now

We live next to some washlands and unfortunately every summer there's people jumping into there

Only a couple of summers ago one teenage boy went missing and later found drowned. So scary