British Pub Toilet Rape Filmed On Mobile Phones

from the very-disturbing dept

This one is very disturbing. There are some very sick and demented people out there. Apparently a woman in the UK was raped (after possibly being drugged) in a British pub. However, two other men, not associated with the attack filmed it using the video camera on their mobile phone. What's unclear from the story is whether or not there was a reason they didn't do anything to actually stop the attack, and instead just stood around and filmed it. While it's good that there's now some evidence, wouldn't it have been better if they took action, instead of just recorded it? Mobile phone cameras certainly can be useful in recording the events of a crime, but at what point does it turns us all into voyeuristic bystanders, instead of actually doing something to help someone in distress?
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  1. identicon
    Patrick, 17 Jun 2003 @ 11:12pm

    Just like Britan

    Actually, I think that filming the event is probably more than what the government of that country thinks citizens should do.

    For a number of years, the government has been telling its people to simp[ly, "walk on by" any crime they see being committed, and to report it to the police.

    Goes hand-in-hand with their 'victim disarmerment' policy of NO GUNS.

    Really.

    People have been put in jail for defending the family, themselves, and their homes from burglars.

    Think about the track records available next time you're asked to support "gun control".

    Regards;
    pat

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Jun 2003 @ 1:41am

    Re: Just like Britian

    Pat,

    Try not to make this a rant-fest about your supposed right to carry an unregistered bazooka in the gun-rack in the back of your truck, and to be able to pull it out the next time some idiot cuts you off on the freeway.

    At least, that's the trends.

    This unfortunate situation can, and will be used, in the coming weeks, to support guns, cameras and more policing, three things we all can do without.

    In the meatntime, Pat, open up your constitution, and read that amendment again, comments too, and tell me when the last time was you reported to YOUR militia.


    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Jun 2003 @ 6:17am

    No Subject Given

    If this happened in america, they would have intervened and then been sued by both the rapist and the victim. While I'm unfamiliar with England's courts, I can't help but remember the taxi cab driver who intervened in a crime by penning the assailant to a wall with his cab and then was sued and LOST.

    ie, our system is driving us to do nothing for fear of repurcusssions.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Max Vincent, 18 Jun 2003 @ 7:21am

    Give me a break

    Aside from the obvious legal possibilities (being sued, charged wih assault etc.) that might result from stepping in to stop the attack, what of the more important physical ones? Who in this day and age is willing to have thier head bashed in (in Britain the bar crowd is particularly fond of shoving broken beer glasses in each other's faces at the first sign of unease)in order to prevent the continuation of a crime of this sort. Not me.

    My personal well being, like it or not, is more important than yours and your family's. I'm not prepared to suffer all sorts of life altering consequences in the pursuit of helping others. Is that selfish? Certainly. It's also self preservation. Society is selfish isn't it? Our world is a very selfish place.

    A woman was raped, and men recorded the images with thier cell phones and did nothing to help the victim.
    In Bosnia thousands were butchered and the news crews recorded the images with thier cameras and we all collectively did nothing to help the Victims.
    In the Congo thousands were butchered and the news crews recorded the images with thier cameras and we all collectively did nothing to help the Victims.

    Do I have to continue?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Wklink (profile), 18 Jun 2003 @ 7:40am

    Since she was drugged...

    ...the witnesses might not even have realized that this was a rape.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 18 Jun 2003 @ 7:54am

    Re: Just like Britian

    AC,

    To quote from the actual Constitution, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

    It doesn't say "the right of the militia", it says "the right of the people".

    Notice that this is from the 2nd Ammendment, not the 8th, 9th or 10th. That means that when our founding fathers sat down and started spelling out all the basic things that they felt were necessary rights that this was 2nd only to the right to speak freely and came before the right to not have to keep soldiers in your home (3rd), the right to privacy in your own home(4th), the right to not have to speak against yourself or to be held in double jeapordy (5th), the right to a speedy trial (6th), the right to a jury trial (7th), cruel and unusual punishment (8th), etc.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Jun 2003 @ 8:08am

    Re: Just like Britian

    Given that the same people decided that blacks were worth 3/5 of a white person in some situations and were property in others I would not hold what they wrote as holy scripture.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    alternatives, 18 Jun 2003 @ 8:10am

    When the gun was pulled on me.

    In 'my' State, had *I* had a gun at that moment and used *MY* gun on the kid who pulled the gun, I would have been 'in the wrong' as 'my state' does not excuse deadly force.

    The 'advice' from the cops? Too bad you didn't have a film of them.

    Now, when I had a client who HAD video of theft, the cops said 'Do you know this guy' and when the answer was 'no', then the cops said 'then how are we supposed to know'...that just shows how useless the 'shoot 'em with a camera, not a gun' theory is.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    LaDonna, 25 Apr 2004 @ 1:31am

    What kind of world do we live in?

    A person who stands around and doesn't help someone in need is just as bad a person as the one who is doing the bad act.

    They should have just got the perpetraitors face on camera for the police to see and that should have been AFTER they helped the poor woman.
    I guess people just don't give a damn about one another anymore.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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