This morning i wake up and read a story that was in the news yesterday, dated 16/07/13. I'm sat here disturbed by what i've just read and feeling that it can only be a reflection of society and what we have changed into, not only that, but it has left me wondering exactly what is our future going to be. Let me give you abit of history on this one....
When my nana was growing up and even when she had her own house, she remembers of a day and age where you could leave your front door open for people to come and go as they please.
When my mum was growing up, kids would play out in the street. She can remember teacher's being allowed to hit children if they miss-behaved in class.
When i was growing up, we were alwas told to go and "play out" while it was light, then come home and do our home work.
Though i'm aware society has changed, it's worrying exactly what it has turned into. Rape itself has been around since time began, although how it's delt with and the "reasons" behind it may well have changed. Over the past couple of years i've heard more and more about cases of rape involving children, infact only a few weeks ago i read a story of how a father was attracted to his 4 month old child and had made advances.
Today's news story though is simply awful, in every sense. Here's the headline....
Peckham teen raped boy, 13, for 'having a poor phone'
The title of this story did leave me a tad on the confused side.... surely not...
"A teenager raped a 13-year-old boy he had intended to rob and then told him he deserved it for not having a phone worth stealing, a court heard yesterday.
The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to four years detention after previously pleading guilty to two counts of rape at Inner London Crown Court.
The would-be robber took his victim to the top floor of a block of flats in Peckham, south London, raped him and then slapped him in the face.
During the attack, the complainant repeatedly begged for his attacker to stop because it hurt, the court heard.
He replied: "Good, that's what you get for not having a good phone. I'm going to scar you for life."
The attack took place on the Yellow Brick Estate on 14 January, prosecutor William Eaglestone told the court.
It began when the 15-year-old, who was 14 at the time, approached the boy at a bus stop while he was on his way back from school.
He asked where he lived, where he went to school, whether he was in a gang and if he had a phone.
When the boy replied he did not have a phone, he was told to go into the block of flats so he could be searched.
After taking him up stairs to the top floor, his attacker began saying "weird stuff" and grabbing him.
Telling him to "do it like a girl", the defendant ordered his victim to remove his boxer shorts and raped him.
Before letting him go, he hit the younger boy in the face and said he would come after him, ordering: "Don't watch who I am".
Asked later by police how scared he had been on a scale of one to 10, the victim replied 10.
When he got home, the boy was crying and got in the bath.
His brother asked what was wrong but got no response.
"His mother came home and saw him in the bath," Mr Eaglestone said.
"She kept asking what was wrong and the victim finally said 'Don't tell anyone, I have been raped'."
In a statement read out to court, the boy's mother said that the rape had changed not only her son's life but that of the whole family.
"My son has changed from being bubbly and lively into a shy and withdrawn young boy - it breaks my heart," she said.
"I don't understand that this could happen because our family believes in peace - we are God fearing people."
Explaining that she had "lost faith in society", she explained that the boy had since been bullied and changed school.
She also said he had stopped washing in a bid to make himself "unattractive".
Judge Roger Chapple, sentencing, told the defendant that his offences had been "dreadful" and the effects on his victim "profound".
"You were apparently punishing him (the victim) for not having a mobile phone you could steal from him," the judge said.
"A quite sad and disquieting theme that has run through this case is the power, control and domination you sought to exercise over your victim and your apparent wish to degrade him.
"When he told you how much you had hurt him you expressed satisfaction and threatened to scar him for life."
A decision on whether to lift an order granting anonymity to the defendant was postponed to tomorrow morning.
The defendant has a previous conviction for possession of cannabis and had been reprimanded for carrying a knife.
Jeannie Mackie, for the defence, said that her client was "buzzing" when the offences happened.
Speaking outside court, Detective Inspector Jackie Wakeford-Smith said justice had been served.
"For someone so innocent and pure, it is just the most inhumane thing to do to another human being," she said.
"It is important for anyone who has been the victim of such a crime to come forward to make sure that these things do not go unreported.
"There are agencies that work with us to support victims of sexual attacks.
"Support networks are in place to help you - please don't suffer in silence, come forward."."
.... Oh.
The song above is called "Ribbon of highway" and tells the story of a person after rape.
The news story itself leaves for some pretty shocking reading, worse than reading is when the realisation comes that this isn't some random persons' dream, this actually happend to somebody. Not that rape is ever acceptable, no matter the "reason" behind it, but for it to be happening at this age? Even worse. More on from this, how could a 14 year old ever think that rape was acceptable? When i was 14, i didn't even know what rape was!!!
And for what? The reason behind this is apparently to do with the boy's mobile phone.... Now ok, when i was 13, i got my first ever mobile phone. It was by sony and it was blue, with some scroller thing on the side. It wasn't great, but it did everything that other people's phones could do at the time. I didn't exactly flaunt it, but i didn't keep my mobile hidden, neither did i ever feel there was a time that i had to, even at school (minus in class, when it had to be kept on silent). The "reason" given to this rape is because of the boy's phone, but is that a valid reason or would this have still happend, but it was the 14 year old boy's way of trying to reason out his actions?
We live in a world where it's now frowned upon to hit your children in public, parents are expected to use things like "the naughty step" and come down to the child's level to explain to them what they have done wrong. How was it back in my day? If you were doing something wrong, you got a slap, either on the bum or back of the legs.
A quick slap and the lesson was usually learned that you'd done wrong and to stop doing it. Would being explained to have worked for me as a child? Not a chance. Infact often when my mum used to say "don't go past that lamp post", i'd go past that lamp post.
Is a lack of parental disaplin having an effect on society as i know it? It could very well be having a damaging effect on how children are being brought up these days. They're being surrounded by all these "latest" and "got to have" gadgets and expected to not want them until they're old enough? Who are we kidding?
It's infact not too long ago i heard of the case where a 10 year old had been robbed because she had the iphone 5. I'm 25 and i don't have a good phone!!!! WTF????
To sum up, we need to sit up and listen to what's going on in our society. We need to make changes because i really don't like what our society has changed into.
- Thank you to The independant for the story. To fully read it, click here.
The would-be robber took his victim to the top floor of a block of flats in Peckham, south London, raped him and then slapped him in the face.
During the attack, the complainant repeatedly begged for his attacker to stop because it hurt, the court heard.
He replied: "Good, that's what you get for not having a good phone. I'm going to scar you for life."
The attack took place on the Yellow Brick Estate on 14 January, prosecutor William Eaglestone told the court.
It began when the 15-year-old, who was 14 at the time, approached the boy at a bus stop while he was on his way back from school.
He asked where he lived, where he went to school, whether he was in a gang and if he had a phone.
When the boy replied he did not have a phone, he was told to go into the block of flats so he could be searched.
After taking him up stairs to the top floor, his attacker began saying "weird stuff" and grabbing him.
Telling him to "do it like a girl", the defendant ordered his victim to remove his boxer shorts and raped him.
Before letting him go, he hit the younger boy in the face and said he would come after him, ordering: "Don't watch who I am".
Asked later by police how scared he had been on a scale of one to 10, the victim replied 10.
When he got home, the boy was crying and got in the bath.
His brother asked what was wrong but got no response.
"His mother came home and saw him in the bath," Mr Eaglestone said.
"She kept asking what was wrong and the victim finally said 'Don't tell anyone, I have been raped'."
In a statement read out to court, the boy's mother said that the rape had changed not only her son's life but that of the whole family.
"My son has changed from being bubbly and lively into a shy and withdrawn young boy - it breaks my heart," she said.
"I don't understand that this could happen because our family believes in peace - we are God fearing people."
Explaining that she had "lost faith in society", she explained that the boy had since been bullied and changed school.
She also said he had stopped washing in a bid to make himself "unattractive".
Judge Roger Chapple, sentencing, told the defendant that his offences had been "dreadful" and the effects on his victim "profound".
"You were apparently punishing him (the victim) for not having a mobile phone you could steal from him," the judge said.
"A quite sad and disquieting theme that has run through this case is the power, control and domination you sought to exercise over your victim and your apparent wish to degrade him.
"When he told you how much you had hurt him you expressed satisfaction and threatened to scar him for life."
A decision on whether to lift an order granting anonymity to the defendant was postponed to tomorrow morning.
The defendant has a previous conviction for possession of cannabis and had been reprimanded for carrying a knife.
Jeannie Mackie, for the defence, said that her client was "buzzing" when the offences happened.
Speaking outside court, Detective Inspector Jackie Wakeford-Smith said justice had been served.
"For someone so innocent and pure, it is just the most inhumane thing to do to another human being," she said.
"It is important for anyone who has been the victim of such a crime to come forward to make sure that these things do not go unreported.
"There are agencies that work with us to support victims of sexual attacks.
"Support networks are in place to help you - please don't suffer in silence, come forward."."
.... Oh.
The song above is called "Ribbon of highway" and tells the story of a person after rape.
The news story itself leaves for some pretty shocking reading, worse than reading is when the realisation comes that this isn't some random persons' dream, this actually happend to somebody. Not that rape is ever acceptable, no matter the "reason" behind it, but for it to be happening at this age? Even worse. More on from this, how could a 14 year old ever think that rape was acceptable? When i was 14, i didn't even know what rape was!!!
And for what? The reason behind this is apparently to do with the boy's mobile phone.... Now ok, when i was 13, i got my first ever mobile phone. It was by sony and it was blue, with some scroller thing on the side. It wasn't great, but it did everything that other people's phones could do at the time. I didn't exactly flaunt it, but i didn't keep my mobile hidden, neither did i ever feel there was a time that i had to, even at school (minus in class, when it had to be kept on silent). The "reason" given to this rape is because of the boy's phone, but is that a valid reason or would this have still happend, but it was the 14 year old boy's way of trying to reason out his actions?
We live in a world where it's now frowned upon to hit your children in public, parents are expected to use things like "the naughty step" and come down to the child's level to explain to them what they have done wrong. How was it back in my day? If you were doing something wrong, you got a slap, either on the bum or back of the legs.
A quick slap and the lesson was usually learned that you'd done wrong and to stop doing it. Would being explained to have worked for me as a child? Not a chance. Infact often when my mum used to say "don't go past that lamp post", i'd go past that lamp post.
Is a lack of parental disaplin having an effect on society as i know it? It could very well be having a damaging effect on how children are being brought up these days. They're being surrounded by all these "latest" and "got to have" gadgets and expected to not want them until they're old enough? Who are we kidding?
It's infact not too long ago i heard of the case where a 10 year old had been robbed because she had the iphone 5. I'm 25 and i don't have a good phone!!!! WTF????
To sum up, we need to sit up and listen to what's going on in our society. We need to make changes because i really don't like what our society has changed into.
- Thank you to The independant for the story. To fully read it, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment