Posted on 06/22/2005 9:55:59 AM PDT by ambrose
Mon 20 Jun 2005
'Happy Slap' Teenager Not to Face Charges
By Pat Hurst and Hugo Duncan, PA
A teenager who left a schoolgirl battered and unconscious in a happy slap attack will not face charges, it was revealed today.
The youngster attacked Becky Smith, 16, so friends could film the assault for fun on their mobile phones in a youth craze known as happy slapping.
But the police have decided Beckys attacker should only receive a caution for the assault.
Becky was left with a black eye, bruises and cuts in a sick attack launched by a fellow school pupil in Blackley, Manchester.
She was jumped from behind by the youngster, also 16, knocked to the ground and spent two days in hospital.
A gang of five boys filmed the attack and the video clip was passed around school via mobile phones, and was shown to Beckys brother Craig, 13.
The victims mother, Georgina Smith, 39, described the incident as sickening and said her daughter had been left terrified and did not want to go back to school because other pupils had watched the video of the attack.
Becky, who is taking her GCSEs at Plant Hill High School in Blackley, was attacked on May 9, and spent two days at North Manchester General Hospital before going home.
A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said a 16-year-old girl was due to answer to bail tomorrow and it was very likely she would receive a caution over the incident.
The attack on Becky was the latest in a string of violent happy slapping incidents including the alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl.
It involves children attacking other youngsters or random passers-by and recording the attacks on their mobiles.
Videos of the slaps are then exchanged between phones and posted on the Internet as a joke.
Last month, two 18-year-olds were jailed for six-and-half years each after setting fire to a stranger and filming the attack on a phone.
Victim Matthew Kitchen, 41, had fallen asleep in a bus shelter in Bury, Greater Manchester, when Benjamin Mortenson and David Smolinski set him alight. Mr Kitchen nearly died.
The video footage was shown at Bolton Crown Court, and features the pair shouting: This is the funniest thing I have ever seen ... Were gonna kill him ... Hes on fire.
LOL!!! You got me beat!
Hopefully your kids are training full contact.
Not likely, we're an armed society and those "slap happy" kids would quickly find themselves dead. One or two pictures of some kid being shot in self defense going around town would quickly bring an end to the practice here.
I can hope to be like close to their first intended victim, hm?
Really? I took Kempo, another form of Okinawan karate. Stick with it and good luck!!
It's assault, and the perps should be thrown in the slam for an extended period.
What a pathetic culture they're turned into.
I wished those kids would try something like that on a woman who has a REALLY REALLY bad case of P.M.S.
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE comes true. What the hell is the matter in the UK? People stand by and watch this? The teens think it's funny? Someone was put in a hospital and all they get is a 'caution'?
No kidding ... during certain times of the month even I FEAR my wife ... pity the kids who try this on one of her "Not-so-Fresh" days.
It appears that this is the only way to get justice, to "happy slap" them back. Especially if the authorities won't press charges. It's open season!
So...if anyone gets happy slapped, go get a cheap movie camera, a group of your friends to cheer you on, locate your attacker and embark on your own happy slapping adventure to settle the score!
You're golden!
If anyone wants to know what it's like to pursue a PhD, try pursuing a black belt in a traditional martial art like Isshinryu. Or vice versa!
When I finally win mine, I'll have accomplished two of the goals on my life's list. I feel good about that.
Wonder if those who'd try "happy slapping" would feel so jolly if someone commenced to beat the living crap out of them?
Just call it "happy crapping"?
Kempo. Is that what Jeff Speakman (Perfect Weapon) teaches?
Four year program? Ryuko Kempo is a traditional Okinawan Karate also and you are right, it ain't easy.
"I'd happy slap them into the hospital."
It appears that this is the only way to get justice, to "happy slap" them back. Especially if the authorities won't press charges. It's open season!
So...if anyone gets happy slapped, go get a cheap movie camera, a group of your friends to cheer you on, locate your attacker and embark on your own happy slapping adventure to settle the score!
You're golden!
As a dad to two, I won't begin to speculize what I'd be compelled to do. We'll just leave it open for "adjustments".
I'm a lapsed Shotokan brown myself - good impetus to get back into shape... (my Japanese class name translates to "old, but short and slow.")
If the father (not mentioned in the article, tellingly) or brother were to beat the stuffings out of this little hood they would go to jail. That's how the government is responsible for sponsoring this sort of behavior, what the late, great Samuel Francis called Anarcho-Tyranny, the refusal of the elite to control society's sociopathic element while putting ever more burdensome controls on the law abiding and productive. It may be worse in Britain but the same thing has been going on in this country for decades with young thugs strutting through subway stations and what have you while people around them cower in fear, in large part fear of being entangled with Big Brother. If you think Americans are any tougher study the 2001 Mardi Gras riot in Seattle.
Mr. Happy Slapper? Meet Mr. Kimber!
It's taken me NINE years. I had a layoff for two due to a nasty knee injury, and they made me start over at white belt.
Like I said: traditional, if you know what I mean.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.