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Child Item

Internet troll says crimes not serious

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/i-will-watch-you-bleed-internet-troll-spared-jail-despite-vile-death-threats-against-senator-36474556.html

II%20GM%20French%201%20Read-Only.jpg

I disagree! Mr Troll.

Not only twitter and stuff, actual emails

In another email, seen by the Irish Independent, French refers to a Blaser R93 rifle and states: "I'm going to blow your big f***ing Jew nose right off," adding "nothing better than to fill a rat's mouth with lead".

Judge spared a jail sentence though.

Judge Anthony Halpin gave French a suspended six-month sentence, saying the courts had to send out the message that public representatives had the support of society and to warn people not to send them abusive comments.

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mfceiling

De Bhál wrote: »

Hope that guy has no access to any sort of rifle

He doesn't seem to have much access to healthy food, exercise or a life it would seem by looking at him.

Infini

darkdubh wrote: »

Hes a dead ringer for yer man who goes ape**** in Full Metal Jacket.

Lord of the Rings rang: They want their cave troll back!

Alun

minikin wrote: »

That is the best way of helping Lorraine Higgins, Stephen French and all others concerned - the general public doesn't get its pound of flesh... that's all.

Must resist ......

Rory28

minikin wrote: »

Ok, lets tease this out - he is ridiculed, belittled and shamed (not only for his awful actions but also for his appearance, his mental health and his physical health).

What if this causes him to lose all touch with reality and he goes after Lorraine Higgins for real? (rather than just expressing his obsessive delusions online)
Will we all be there to disarm him with our keyboards??

I'd suggest that it's best to leave it to the health professionals and the Gardaí and for the rest of us not to enflame the situation. That is the best way of helping Lorraine Higgins, Stephen French and all others concerned - the general public doesn't get its pound of flesh... that's all.

What do mean disarm with a keyboard? I don't tailor how I speak on the off chance it will spark a murderous rampage in a nutjob and you shouldnt either.

The best way to help Lorraine Higgins is to lock this guy up.

mfceiling

28.

Is that stone or years?

splinter65

seamus wrote: »

There is no constitutional protection of free speech. The right to free expression is asserted, but only where it doesn't conflict with "public order and morality".

So you could say that the protection of free speech ends as soon as it leaves your mouth.

So, his own solicitor says that he's mentally ill, in a very serious way, and the judge sends him off on his merry way.

Seriously, the next step here is this guy putting a bullet in his head. Maybe after he puts one in his mother's.

Why the fnck was he not committed to an institution?

I would expect that social services have become involved now following this prosecution and are looking into his mothers health and well being.
She is probably very well looked after and these attacks on this poor woman are some kind of manifestation of some psychiatric problems the guy has.

SEPT 23 1989

It's his mother I feel sorry for

splinter65

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

It's his mother I feel sorry for

This is it. She’s got all the neighbors whispering. Family up in arms. She’s got social workers in probably poking about now. She’s got him skulking about the house 24 hours a day.
The lives some people live.

mcmoustache

biko wrote: »

Why do the paper call him an "internet troll"?
Maybe the article author doesn't really know what an internet troll is but think anyone who uses the means of internet to attack another person is a troll.

He is not a troll but a weird freak posting threatening messages and should be in jail for death threats.

Having been on the internet since the nineties, I understand trolling to be stirring sh*t in newsrooms and chatrooms. Often by taking a contrary position or pretending to be thick.

Threatening people or trying to intimidate them wasn't known as trolling.

minikin

Malayalam wrote: »

...

Excellent response Malayalam, thanks.

You're right that my descriptions of this poor guy or young man are subjective... because from my perspective he is both a young man (being only in his twenties) and a poor guy who is unwell and vulnerable - I feel pity for him and the predicament he has got himself into.

His comments after sentencing are cold and calm and designed to inflict further bullying on the victim by intimating that she was looking for attention and that he was not that bad or else he would have been jailed, a psychopathic defense if ever I heard one. And no, psychopaths don't have to be ''unwell'' as in the sense of being incapable. His words seem quite cool and calculated.

I would counter this point by saying we are reading only what the paper has reported, perhaps he also apologised and they felt the piece was stronger if they removed all empathy... easier to depict him as a cold weirdo.

Life is complicated, I try to make allowances for people in all sorts of circumstances. Perhaps as a kid / young adult he has been on the receiving end of bullying over his weight, perhaps this has resulted in poor mental health, perhaps compounding such insults now online is not a great choice for the rest of us?

None of this is by way of condoning his behaviour, but I do wince when I see the free for all thats allowed on here (and generally in society) when it comes to attacking a young white male.

Had Stephen been of African descent would it have been acceptable for moderators/cat mods/posters to post comments on here about his skin colour or to post up disparaging photos of black media personalities because of some vague similarity? (Was the equivalent allowed in the 'Dundalk stabbing thread'?)

tomwaterford

minikin wrote: »

Excellent response Malayalam, thanks.

You're right that my descriptions of this poor guy or young man are subjective... because from my perspective he is both a young man (being only in his twenties) and a poor guy who is unwell and vulnerable - I feel pity for him and the predicament he has got himself into.

Life is complicated, I try to make allowances for people in all sorts of circumstances. Perhaps as a kid / young adult he has been on the receiving end of bullying over his weight, perhaps this has resulted in poor mental health, perhaps compounding such insults now online is now a great choice for the rest of us?

Maybe he's just a Bell-end??....

He hasn't attempted to defend his actions....in fact he deosnt view them as serious atal

As for online abuse....if he's good enough to give it and bully others,he should be good enough to take it aswell

riemann

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

It's his mother I feel sorry for

I feel sorry for anyone who takes online abuse from random strangers seriously. There is a block button for a reason.

#sad

Rory28

minikin wrote: »

None of this is by way of condoning his behaviour, but I do wince when I see the free for all thats allowed on here (and generally in society) when it comes to attacking a young white male.

Had Stephen been of African descent would it have been acceptable for moderators/cat mods/posters to post comments on here about his skin colour or to post up disparaging photos of black media personalities because of some vague similarity? (Was the equivalent allowed in the 'Dundalk stabbing thread'?)

What has him being white got to do with anything?

minikin

tomwaterford wrote: »

Maybe he's just a Bell-end??....

Indeed, perhaps he is just a bell-end... surely his bell-end-ish actions should be enough to attack, without having to reference his physical appearance.

It's tabloid reporting/gutter behaviour attacking someone because of their weight, it is saying they deserve MORE punishment and more RIDICULE because they're FAT... school yard bullying b.s.

As for online abuse....if he's good enough to give it and bully others,he should be good enough to take it aswell

In this society we have a courts system that we use to try to dispense justice.
Is this not a more civilised idea than 'an eye for an eye'?

minikin

Rory28 wrote: »

What has him being white got to do with anything?

Exactly my point, what has him being overweight got to do with anything?
Why is it acceptable to attack the amount of skin he fills, but not the colour of that skin?

falinn merking

minikin wrote: »

Indeed, perhaps he is just a bell-end... surely his bell-end-ish actions should be enough to attack, without having to reference his physical appearance.

It's tabloid reporting/gutter behaviour attacking someone because of their weight, it is saying they deserve MORE punishment and more RIDICULE because they're FAT... school yard bullying b.s.

In this society we have a courts system that we use to try to dispense justice.
Is this not a more civilised idea than 'an eye for an eye'?

Not sure but it is a lot more lucrative I am sure about that.

tomwaterford

minikin wrote: »

In this society we have a courts system that we use to try to dispense justice.
Is this not a more civilised idea than 'an eye for an eye'?

The courts and justice obviously deosnt work when this lad thinks sending death threats etc aren't a big deal?

minikin

Verpiss dich wrote: »

Not sure but it is a lot more lucrative I am sure about that.

Very true, but cheaper than the moral price we would have to pay for having knee-capping mobs dispensing justice.

minikin

tomwaterford wrote: »

The courts and justice obviously deosnt work when this lad thinks sending death threats etc aren't a big deal?

Thought should be a punishable crime now? Just because he thinks it doesn't make him right or sane.

weisses

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/i-will-watch-you-bleed-internet-troll-spared-jail-despite-vile-death-threats-against-senator-36474556.html

I disagree! Mr Troll.

Not only twitter and stuff, actual emails

Judge spared a jail sentence though.

Yajsus that fat guy/girl takes the term "bingo wings" to a whole new level

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

De Bhál wrote: »

Hope that guy has no access to any sort of rifle

Not a chance he'd actually go and use it.

padd b1975

Noxin wrote: »

He'd have a tough time catching her!

Those mobility scooters are surprisingly nippy...

minikin

tomwaterford wrote: »

Never said taught should be punishable??

Looks to me like he got off Scot free and has faced no justice....deosnt even think it's a serious offence
>>what's to stop him doing it again

You're judging the effectiveness of the judicial system by, what it's reported, the person found guilty said they thought about the situation.
That's like saying the courts are ineffective because some gangster who has been sentenced to ten years said he'd do it 'spinning on his ****' (my asterisks)
Just because people say things doesn't make them true.

How did he get off scot free?
He was found guilty and given what Justice Anthony Halpin felt was an appropriate sentence, six months suspended for two years.
He now has a criminal conviction which will dog him for the rest of his days.
Sounds like punishment to me.

But that's not enough for some, lets totally destroy him on here, a taste of his own medicine, lets victimise him... yeah, to show him that victimising and bullying people online isn't acceptable in this society... yeah...

Arghus

He looks like the dictionary definition of seriously mentally ill. I don't know if sending him off to prison would be the right punishment in this particular case, but he should definitely have to undergo some form of therapy. We might laugh at the state of him, but he looks like a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off.

I wouldn't conflate the issue of free speech with the judge's remarks. Being subjected to criticism and even abuse is part and parcel of being a public representative, but what this guy had to say was beyond the pale - outright threats to kill, coupled with comments about "passing you on the street" - truly chilling stuff. I don't know how anyone could regard them as being within the even sometimes harsh confines of normal criticism a public representative should have to put up with.

tomwaterford

minikin wrote: »

How did he get off scot free?
He was found guilty and given what Justice Anthony Halpin felt was an appropriate sentence, six months suspended for two years.
He now has a criminal conviction which will dog him for the rest of his days.
Sounds like punishment to me.

Meh if your happy to have seriously dangerous and insane people walking the streets who harass people and give repeated death threats

That is your own business,and not for me to judge

. ...looks to me like theres nothing happened to say he's not doing the same as he was to another person,right now??

minikin

tomwaterford wrote: »

Meh if your happy to have seriously dangerous and insane people walking the streets who harass people and give repeated death threats

That is your own business,and not for me to judge

. ...looks to me like theres nothing happened to say he's not doing the same as he was to another person,right now??

Where did I say that I was happy about any of what this guy threatened to do?

Are you qualified to say that this guy is seriously dangerous? Are you happy to fill the prisons with people who think and say bad things, thereby leaving no room for the people who ACTUALLY DO bad things?

I'm more concerned about the people who actually do damage, than those who mouth off with empty threats.
You're familiar with the phrase 'empty vessels make the most noise'?

I would imagine if the judge had evidence that there was any real prospect of the guy actually acting on these words then he would be behind bars this evening. But then, it's not for us to judge the judge's judgement.

mfceiling

I suppose with all the worrying about this lad and the threats that he made, should we spare a thought for the victim.
You know...the person that this lad abused.

B.A._Baracus

The gas things is it's almost a guarantee he is reading this thread :pac:

Kermit.de.frog

A few days of being ridiculed online may be tough but not undeserved.

Easy to be a hard man behind a keyboard but that woman must have been terrified.

minikin

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

A few days of being ridiculed online may be tough but not undeserved.

Perhaps they were exactly Stephen French’s initial thoughts about Lorraine Higgins?

Sure there’s no harm in a bit of online bullying, er... I mean commentary on social media... sure it’s their own fault for putting themselves in this position where they can be targeted... sure it’s only words - what harm can come of it?

The glee some are taking in kicking this guy about is amazing, seems to be ‘who can get the hardest kick in FIRST’... from the news rag publishing the full address of a mentally unwell person (through combination of photo and words, no doubt waiting with drool for the follow up story of a vigilante reprisal on him by some other easily led unwell individual) to this thread and some of the contributions on here.

Pity we don’t behave better than those we condemn.