Girl attacked by masked man. She is fined £500.

[Jamie555]

Synopsis: Girl attacked by man in a balaclava who followed her home. He admits it. She gets fined £500 for being too violent, and he gets no punishment.

Full story: Girl fights off masked attacker and fined £500.

Comment: This is bonkers IMO (based on the information provided). Predators should not expect a modest, rational response when attacking a vulnerable person. This reminds me of the case of an elderly lady (alone) in her 80s who beat up two male 20 something burglars who broke into her home, phoned the police afterwards and was accused of using unnecessary force because of her martial arts training.

Fight someone who you believe is in your own league if you must, and I accept that a rational proportionate response is fair, but to pick on someone who you see as vulnerable eg( kids, elderly, infirm, young girls, etc), then an emotive, robust shoeing is fair game IMO.

J

 

[J87]

Says she continued to kick him when he was on the ground .. IMO thats absolutely fine, whatever it takes for her to be sure that he isnt gonna get back up and attack her.

Whats she supposed to do, hit him and wait to see if he manages to get up and do whatever it was he was planning to do to her?

 

[Smitch]

If someone goes out with a Balaclava they're going out kitted out to do something they don't want to be recognised for. That fact in itself should show that the guy deserved everything that was coming to him.

 

[Little Ron]

I agree with both the above. However I think there is more to this story than it first seems. The boyfriend was with her but no mention of his part and they had already argued/fought earlier in the evening. I suspect the boyfriend is also being charged so it cannot be mentioned in her case as they treat the two seperately.

Either way, wait and follow someone home from a nightclub balaclava'd up, get a kicking and take all you deserve. Could have quite easily been the other way round with the attackers being the victims and no body to prosecute due to not being able to identify the attacker. You go after a fight, don't cry to the cops when it turns on you. You don't expect the people you are fighting to grass you up....

 

[Jamie555]

Agreed with your first paragraph Ron. There is often more nuances that come up in cases, and newspapers do not always paint a complete or even accurate pictures of events, hence my caveat.

Says she continued to kick him when he was on the ground .. IMO thats absolutely fine, whatever it takes for her to be sure that he isnt gonna get back up and attack her.

Whats she supposed to do, hit him and wait to see if he manages to get up and do whatever it was he was planning to do to her?

Totally agree with this.

J

 

[Jamie555]

True doink. I do wonder however how people determine reasonableness in terms of a defence. When there is such a serious power imbalance, and where it is clear eg( though admission of guilt by the instigator ) who started it, then IMHO very robust defence is reasonable, ie ensuring that the attacker will not respond.

J

 

[Jamie555]

True doink. I do wonder however how people determine reasonableness in terms of a defence. When there is such a serious power imbalance, and where it is clear eg( though admission of guilt by the instigator ) who started it, then IMHO very robust defence is reasonable, ie ensuring that the attacker will not respond.

J

 

[WWR]

To be fair guys, the guy might have been cold and wore a balaclava to keep his face warm???

 

[J87]

To be fair guys, the guy might have been cold and wore a balaclava to keep his face warm???

Maybe they walk the same route home aswell? Total misunderstanding

 

[Kaotik]

It's like if someone breaks in your house, threatens to kill your family with a knife and you can only use "reasonable force". Fck that if I managed to get a weapon of my own I'd try and kill him. And so would the hypocritical judges to protect their family.

 

[Alex]

Stuff like this does make me lol

What do they want you to do, set up an official dual when your getting attacked, throw it down like in the western movies lol. Make sure you're both going to go hand to hand, no weapons, extra mates, sly shots or kicks on the ground. Agree that when someone gets a knockout make sure they wont get back up after and come at you again, either armed or with more mates.

"well mate you've just broke into my house, could likely be carrying weapons, so can you state your intentions please? If you are armed, you fancy dropping any weapons so we can go hand to hand so i can protect my family and property? Dont worry though mate, i wont kick you when your down, ill let you up, can make a brew after if you fancy"

As for the op, its just stupid. Maybe if this stuff didnt go on and people were allowed to defend themself and add a little extra to deter them doing anymore without worry of being prosecuted, people would start to think twice about their actions before going out there way to scare or harm others. Easy to sit in hindsight and knock someones actions in defending themself, but when youre getting attacked or in a sh*tty situation everything feels like its going 100mph.

 

[Reanimation]

"continuing to kick her attacker on the head even after he was knocked unconscious"


This.

I think her fine is justified. However, where is his punishment? He didn't manage to have his evil way with her yet the motive was clear.
I will always defend myself, family, friends and property with any force necessary regardless of the consequences yet would remain rational in respect of level force and not striking a man that is out of action. That is callous.

 

[WWR]

Maybe they walk the same route home aswell? Total misunderstanding

Totally, that girl was just a savage

 

[Flinty]

Totally, that girl was just a savage

Too right , i was only on my way to my tent after night fishing, i happened to run out of bait so decided to walk to the nearest shop to grab a tin of sweetcorn, then as i passed the local boozer this woman walks out in front of me, as i approached her to ask about were the nearest fishing tackle shop was she started to attack me..
i woke up in a daze and still havent collected the rest of my fishing tackle from the bankside...

All this and i only wanted a tin of sweetcorn.. dam women are really nasty sometimes...

 

[Alex]

"continuing to kick her attacker on the head even after he was knocked unconscious"


This.

I think her fine is justified. However, where is his punishment? He didn't manage to have his evil way with her yet the motive was clear.
I will always defend myself, family, friends and property with any force necessary regardless of the consequences yet would remain rational in respect of level force and not striking a man that is out of action. That is callous.

Shes 19 bro, hes a 43 year old man. I do find the stuff with the bf being there confusing as it mentions him but not what he was doing at the time.

But the fact remains he went to attack her, at her door too, so maybe looking to get into the house. What if it did end up serious assault or rape? Shed have to live with that, not us, likely suffer a lot of stress and mental health issues after, probably struggle with her relationship with her bf due to said stress etc etc.
Its easy for us to sit here and say but she stamped on his head the charge is justified, but then it wouldnt have been us that would have had to live with whatever the attacker was planning to do either.

What if she did just manage to rock him, he stumbles to the ground, but she backs off and he gets back up then goes at her more aggressively?

I bet she will be scared stiff of going out at night for a long time, and she gets a nice fine on top of that as well.

He got his ass whooped, and i bet any money he wont ever consider doing anything like that again.