19year old sentenced to over 4 years for injuries against two 16year old girls

[Kyriakos]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ryan-walker-harry-potter-attack-3134853

The above article has a somewhat graphic image of one of the girls, from the Mirror newspaper.

A teenager who stabbed a girl in the face and smashed another's head against a fence because they called him HARRY POTTER has been jailed for more than four years.

Ryan Walker wears glasses and has short black hair like the boy wizard created by JK Rowling, and played by actor Daniel Radcliffe in the hit movies.

But the 19-year-old snapped after the girls called him Harry Potter, stabbing one in the face so hard the blade of his vegetable knife broke.

Walker then smashed the other's head against a fence and shouted "die, die".

He claimed he launched the ferocious attacks in Southampton after being goaded repeatedly by the girls.

Well, a very sad story.

The 19-year old obviously has/had his issues, although it deserves to be noted that it does seem the girls were repeatedly cruel too. Given that he caused this damage to their faces one has to assume that he was finding their bully-attitude as indeed the last straw in a collection of abuse.

Not sure about the sentence, cause i am not sure where he will be sent. If it is some hell-hole then his life is over already.

Still, 4+ years for this is, well, not that lenient to say the least. It's not like he just saw the girls or they just yelled at him once. On the other hand the injuries he caused are pretty severe (although the article mentions they will go away in time).

-What do you think of the prison sentence?

 

[GenMarshall]

I may need more background on this. Was the kid constantly bullied by the girls or is this just a one time incident?

 

[bhsup]

Four years for two attempted murders? Seems a bit light to be honest...

 

[Kyriakos]

I may need more background on this. Was the kid constantly bullied by the girls or is this just a one time incident?

I have to suppose he had been bullied around pretty often, but the article indeed does not make it clear how often it happened by those specific girls.
Then again they seem to have been living in the same neighborhood, so it is likely they had dealings with him in the past too.

 

[Borachio]

Well, it just goes to show.

At 19, I'd have expected him to be less sensitive to abuse from teenage girls - who, no doubt, can be very cruel.

There's always other options than stabbing someone in the face and kicking another in the head. Usually the best option is to ignore them.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, it just goes to show.

At 19, I'd have expected him to be less sensitive to abuse from teenage girls - who, no doubt, can be very cruel.

There's always other options than stabbing someone in the face and kicking another in the head. Usually the best option is to ignore them.

I agree

Then again, he does live in Southampton, capital of Brutalism.

Just thought i could post this little lighthearted note, cause the story indeed is severely cruel.

 

[Quackers]

I've walked past that hideous building many times. It is one of the first buildings you see once you exit the train station. A nice welcome to newcomers

The lad shouldn't have done what he did. If the girls were repeatedly taunting him than they had something coming to'em.

 

[Farm Boy]

Building looks kinda cool for a building, if you ask me.

 

[warpus]

Bullying is a huge issue that nobody wants to take seriously. The bullies are rarely punished and fighting back usually lands the person who was bullied in trouble.

Every once in a while someone will just break down and react.

This looks to me like an unfortunate consequence of school and district officials refusing to deal with the problem.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Here is a far better article about the incident from the only apparent non-tabloid to carry it.

The above article has a somewhat graphic image of one of the girls, from the Mirror newspaper.

You don't find the other image "somewhat graphic" as well?

Building looks kinda cool for a building, if you ask me.

I see nothing inherently wrong with it either. One might even think the authoritarian far-right would like the appearance of buildings that are frequently reminiscent of governmental institutions.

Bullying is a huge issue that nobody wants to take seriously. The bullies are rarely punished and fighting back usually lands the person who was bullied in trouble.

Having a confrontation with two teen-aged girls is not what I would characterize as "bullying". Even so, all he had to do was to ignore them. Instead, he came back out twice to seek revenge.

 

[Borachio]

Building looks kinda cool for a building, if you ask me.

Looks like neo-vernacular concrete brutalism to me.

Having a confrontation with two teen-aged girls is not what I would characterize as "bullying".

No, indeed. I agree.

The guy handled it all wrong (which is not necessarily all his own fault). My guess is that these girls were really interested in him, and didn't know how else to express it. Or maybe he's just a sad loser who they felt they could pick on with impunity.

 

[Formaldehyde]

From the other article, it seems more likely that he couldn't get past the 3 girls sitting on the stairs without physically touching at least one of them with his shopping bag. So they reacted negatively to him not asking politely to give him room to pass.

 

[Tergiversater]

They also then perused him into the park. Why where the following if not to torment him further?

 

[Formaldehyde]

To try to somehow get even with him after he threw water at them? At least one of the girls apparently had enough common sense not to go.

 

[Kyriakos]

You don't find the other image "somewhat graphic" as well?

I see nothing inherently wrong with it either. One might even think the authoritarian far-right would like the appearance of buildings that are frequently reminiscent of governmental institutions.

You sound mad + this forum is not for you to air your endless anger towards others.

 

[Formaldehyde]

No, the "mad" part is yet another hysterical thread laden with double standards. Keep up the good work.

 

[Akka]

He certainly vastly overdid it (I'm pretty sure slaps would have been enough), but if they had bullied him for a while, I find hard to feel any sympathy for them.

Of course we don't know all the fact, but the violence of the attack tends to indicate that he was really pushed over the edge. I think that the sentence may be overharsh.
Though, okay, you HAVE to admit he DOES look like Harry Potter quite a bit.

Bullying is a huge issue that nobody wants to take seriously. The bullies are rarely punished and fighting back usually lands the person who was bullied in trouble.

Strongly agree.

 

[Kyriakos]

Surely his crime was brutal (i mean, on the first attack, the plastic knife was destroyed by the force it met while cutting up part of the girl's face). 4+ years is little time if it is spent in some rehabilitation center, but if he goes into some hell-hole prison (which is more likely), well, he may die before he is up for parole anyway. I mean this is the sort of person who clearly is intimidated to the point of losing it all by some 16year old girls, what will happen if he is in a cell with more dangerous company...

 

[Formaldehyde]

Well, it certainly argues for institutionalized psychiatric care for a similarly lengthy period instead of imprisonment. But that is a "liberal" POV, is it not?

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, it certainly argues for institutionalized psychiatric care for a similarly lengthy period instead of imprisonment. But that is a "liberal" POV, is it not?

It is a logical POV. Logic existed before the US democrat party, or its swing past its early phase.