Swords Man gets 8 months for slapping woman on bum

Frank Black · 22-01-2013 04:08PM

Jimminy Mc Fukhead wrote: »

I bet the two of them will end up getting married.

And this whole thing will be amusing anecdote for the children/grandchildren.

Cast Owen Wilson as the guy and Jennifer Anniston as the girl and the Hollywood screenplay practically writes itself.

Gone Drinking · 22-01-2013 04:13PM

It's not the slap on the arse that got him that sentence.

It's the terror/fear he put into that poor woman as she knew he was following her. What she must have felt in the minutes up to and after the slap would be terrifying, as she didn't know he just wanted to slap her arse (if that's really all he wanted to do, the weirdo).

DrumSteve · 22-01-2013 04:14PM

Madam_X wrote: »

Seems too extreme a sentence IMO.

Yep, the sentencing of Patrick O'Brien is a good example of that. Oh and Anthony Lyons.

Not sure how that is relevant at all here to be honest. One would have probably been released on appeal anyway unfortunately and the other guy bought his way out of prison IIRC.(also feel free to quote the rest of my post which applauded the judge on the sentencing in this case. )

My point was would we treat this with the same seriousness if a woman did this to a man?

FoxT · 22-01-2013 04:27PM

Sentencing for sexual assault seems to be very erratic.

Guy gets 8 months for slapping a woman on the bum, while yesterday, a man walked free after a pleading guilty to sexually assaulting his own daughter for a ten year period.

This is completely incomprehensible,

Madam_X · 22-01-2013 04:39PM

DrumSteve wrote: »

Not sure how that is relevant at all here to be honest. One would have probably been released on appeal anyway unfortunately and the other guy bought his way out of prison IIRC.(also feel free to quote the rest of my post which applauded the judge on the sentencing in this case. )

My point was would we treat this with the same seriousness if a woman did this to a man?

I know that was your point. And my point was, given your quote "We are all equal but some moreso than others": the female victims in those cases ain't gonna be seeing a bias in favour of women when it comes to justice. That quote is applicable to the likes of Anthony Lyons, not just women who are treated more leniently on the basis of their gender. But yes, if it were the other way around, the woman would probably get away with it. I did see you applauded the judge, but that wasn't relevant to my point. I don't applaud the judge btw, I think it was too harsh.

kopkidda · 22-01-2013 04:43PM

I would like to see pictorial evidence of said "arse" before I comment any further

Cienciano · 22-01-2013 04:44PM

The indo is shíte. If the story was in the daily mail they'd have a picture of the bum

JustAddWater · 22-01-2013 04:48PM

they all have lovely bottoms

DrumSteve · 22-01-2013 05:02PM

Madam_X wrote: »

I know that was your point. And my point was, given your quote "We are all equal but some moreso than others": the female victims in those cases ain't gonna be seeing a bias in favour of women when it comes to justice. That quote is applicable to the likes of Anthony Lyons, not just women who are treated more leniently on the basis of their gender. But yes, if it were the other way around, the woman would probably get away with it. I did see you applauded the judge, but that wasn't relevant to my point. I don't applaud the judge btw, I think it was too harsh.

Yeah Id agree with you on the Lyons sentencing, was a disgrace to be honest.

byronbay2 · 22-01-2013 05:19PM

FoxT wrote: »

Sentencing for sexual assault seems to be very erratic.

Guy gets 8 months for slapping a woman on the bum, while yesterday, a man walked free after a pleading guilty to sexually assaulting his own daughter for a ten year period.

This is completely incomprehensible,

Just so everyone understands, he walked free from the court yesterday because he was released on bail pending an appeal to a 12-year jail sentence with 9 years suspended. He does have a jail term hanging over him, unless his appeal is successful.

2ndcoming · 22-01-2013 05:21PM

If ever there was a time to use the "Gummy Venus De Milo defence", it's here surely!

Agricola · 22-01-2013 05:24PM

Crazy stuff. Does this mean if a woman gets a bit jittery after being wolf whistled, the perpetrator could find himself landed with a couple of weeks in the nick / community service / heavy fine!

shoos · 22-01-2013 05:30PM

Agricola wrote: »

Crazy stuff. Does this mean if a woman gets a bit jittery after being wolf whistled, the perpetrator could find himself landed with a couple of weeks in the nick / community service / heavy fine!

He was stalking her to the point she felt so frightened she took out her phone to call someone for help.

Do you not see how intimidating that can be

StormWarrior · 22-01-2013 05:32PM

People keep saying that he only wanted to slap her bum, but we don't know that. He had been stalking her for so long that she, in terror, phoned her boyfriend, who arrived quickly enough to catch the perpetrator. If the boyfriend hadn't turned up, the sexual assault may have been more serious. Who stalks a woman just to slap her bum? We don't know what the perpetrator had in mind.

I agree that the sentencing is erratic and seems unfair when the daughter rapist got off, but leaving that aside, I think 8 months is fair for what he did. when I was a student, I was once cornered in a dark street by four men who then proceeded to grope my bottom. I was so scared to go out after that that I ended up dropping out of university so that I wouldn't have to walk those streets any more. Being drunk is NO excuse. If he can't control himself when drunk he shouldn't drink. What next - if he'd raped her would we say it's unfair to send him to prison as he was drunk? A deterrent needs to be in place that it's not ok to sexually assault anyone ever, even if to some a slap on the bum doesn't seem much.

efb · 22-01-2013 05:34PM

Both are on bail pending appeal

seamus · 22-01-2013 05:40PM

If a man was followed down a dark path by a group of scumbags who then punched him in the back of the head and walked off with his wallet, they would get 6 months, at most, suspended.

And that man would be no less terrified than the woman in this story.

Yes, it has to be recognised that what he did would instil fear in her, but the judge has definitely given far too much weight to that. A two-year good behaviour order and a small fine to a charity for victims of sexual assault seems like it would be far more proportionate.

StormWarrior · 22-01-2013 05:44PM

seamus wrote: »

If a man was followed down a dark path by a group of scumbags who then punched him in the back of the head and walked off with his wallet, they would get 6 months, at most, suspended.

And that man would be no less terrified than the woman in this story.

That isn't enough either. It doesn't matter whether the victim is male or female, I would like to see the perpetrators of violence and intimidating behaviour get serious punishments that would act as a real deterrent.

shoos · 22-01-2013 05:45PM

seamus wrote: »

If a man was followed down a dark path by a group of scumbags who then punched him in the back of the head and walked off with his wallet, they would get 6 months, at most, suspended.

And that man would be no less terrified than the woman in this story.

Yes, it has to be recognised that what he did would instil fear in her, but the judge has definitely given far too much weight to that. A two-year good behaviour order and a small fine to a charity for victims of sexual assault seems like it would be far more proportionate.

If you were stalked by a group of scumbags and hit in the back of the head, would you be happy if when brought to court they were all given two-year good behaviour order and a small fine? Would that give them or others like them any kind of deterrent?

Instead of saying the sentence in her case was too much, I think the sentence in all these kind of cases are too little.

Physical and/or sexual violence both need to be taken far more seriously.

seamus · 22-01-2013 05:52PM

shoos wrote: »

If you were stalked by a group of scumbags and hit in the back of the head, would you be happy if when brought to court they were all given two-year good behaviour order and a small fine? Would that give them or others like them any kind of deterrent?

No, because it's a worse crime. Serious assault and theft versus a slap on the arse.

Intent is really important and we have to be careful not to let our emotion cloud this.
While it doesn't excuse what he did, it's clear that he did not intend to cause the women any fear nor any physical harm.

Chuck Stone · 22-01-2013 05:58PM

You should really only slap your partner's bum.

Like this.

Standman · 22-01-2013 05:59PM

What are these "drugs" he took that apparently turn normal people into fucking perverts? Was he also on these drugs when he gave the excuse of "she had a nice bum"? Fucking dumbass

StormWarrior · 22-01-2013 05:59PM

seamus wrote: »

While it doesn't excuse what he did, it's clear that he did not intend to cause the women any fear nor any physical harm.

How is that clear? We don't know what he intended. And I would say that intent is less important than the effect on the victim. You might not mean much by assaulting someone in this way but it may adversely affect their life for years to come.

Agricola · 22-01-2013 06:00PM

shoos wrote: »

He was stalking her to the point she felt so frightened she took out her phone to call someone for help.

Do you not see how intimidating that can be

Yes it may be intimidating, but as Seamus said, intent is crucial. Without taking it into account, every poor egit who looks sideways at a woman could find himself banged up.

Im not condoning what he did. Hes a muppet obviously, but a muppet who was out of his head and meant to do her no actual harm. If he was a serial rapist it would be a different story.

StormWarrior · 22-01-2013 06:03PM

Agricola wrote: »

Yes it may be intimidating, but as Seamus said, intent is crucial. Without taking it into account, every poor egit who looks sideways at a woman could find himself banged up.

If you don't want to get banged up, don't touch/hit/slap random people in the street. Simple.

Allyall · 22-01-2013 06:09PM

Agricola wrote: »

Yes it may be intimidating, but as Seamus said, intent is crucial. Without taking it into account, every poor egit who looks sideways at a woman could find himself banged up.

Im not condoning what he did. Hes a muppet obviously, but a muppet who was out of his head and meant to do her no actual harm. If he was a serial rapist it would be a different story.

We don't actually know that. He may have heard her on the phone to her Boyfriend and decided to 'cancel any plans' he may have had. So slapped her bum. Then Boyfriend arrived.
It is a bit freaky some guy following a girl up the road because he likes her ass.

If he thought drugs gave him the confidence to do that, God knows what else. Why didn't he just go up to her and try and talk, instead of freaking her out?

Did he get the 8 months suspended or is it under appeal?

gingernut125 · 22-01-2013 06:09PM

Agricola wrote: »

Yes it may be intimidating, but as Seamus said, intent is crucial. Without taking it into account, every poor egit who looks sideways at a woman could find himself banged up.

Im not condoning what he did. Hes a muppet obviously, but a muppet who was out of his head and meant to do her no actual harm. If he was a serial rapist it would be a different story.

We don't know what his intent was because she took out her phone and got help. It sounds like it might have been a different scenario if she hadn't.

Allyall · 22-01-2013 06:15PM

Bad Santa wrote: »

I blame the movies, John Wayne was always at it and here's two more recent examples:

[youtubeX8rqMli_4Ww[/youtube]
[youtubeCTUrcMclH4c[/youtube]

MY EARS!!

AnonoBoy · 22-01-2013 06:24PM

Agricola wrote: »

Crazy stuff. Does this mean if a woman gets a bit jittery after being wolf whistled, the perpetrator could find himself landed with a couple of weeks in the nick / community service / heavy fine!

Agricola wrote: »

Yes it may be intimidating, but as Seamus said, intent is crucial. Without taking it into account, every poor egit who looks sideways at a woman could find himself banged up.

Looking sideways at someone and following them aren't the same things.

The sentence is harsh but you can't follow someone who's out alone, slap them on the ass and expect nothing to happen.

Contrasting this with someone slapping someone on the ass in a nightclub (which also shouldn't happen) - this is far worse because of the fear created. The girl didn't know what he intended to do and drugs or not, he should have known that following someone is not something you should do.

shoos · 22-01-2013 06:33PM

seamus wrote: »

No, because it's a worse crime. Serious assault and theft versus a slap on the arse.

Intent is really important and we have to be careful not to let our emotion cloud this.
While it doesn't excuse what he did, it's clear that he did not intend to cause the women any fear nor any physical harm.

I went along with your example of the group of scumbags crime as I thought you were suggesting that an 8 month sentence wouldn't even be appropriate for that - let alone what the man in this case did.

So, ok. Forget theft and physical violence from a group of people - as it's nothing to do with anything.

A man/woman is stalked on the street by someone. There's a threat of sexual and/or physical violence, frightening the person to the point they have to call a third party to come and help them. Intent could have been the bottom slap, or something far worse - we don't know. Either way, he scared her to death. He deserves something to happen to him.

Also (this isn't directed to you seamus), I'd be curious to know if people think a slap on the arse is really the same as a "wolf wolfwhisle" or a "sidesways glance".

I'm a 21 year old woman, and my ass has been slapped as well as my top grabbed by random men both on the street and in nightclubs, and every time it leaves me literally shaking with anger. It's a massive violation of your body, it's intimidating, it's humiliating and when the scumbag who does it is standing there with a stupid grin on his face, I'm left there wondering what in his right mind has led him to believe he can touch me on private areas of my body without any consequence. As such, I'm delighted to see someone go down for this.

HANDS TO YOURSELVES BOYS AND GIRLS :mad:

Bad Santa · 22-01-2013 06:45PM

seamus wrote: »

Intent is really important and we have to be careful not to let our emotion cloud this.
While it doesn't excuse what he did, it's clear that he did not intend to cause the women any fear nor any physical harm.

Good points and knowing the Drynam Road well (very wide, busy, out in the open road that leads up to the Swords Paviallions roundabout, with fifty or so houses on each side) I have to wonder did she really fear for her life, as if I was driving along there and seen a young guy suspiciously walking behind a woman on a bright evening as she used her phone, I'd be inclined to beep at her to alert her to the fact that her phone or purse might be about to be swiped, not that any sexual assault may about to take place.

Community service would have done there. Clear case of the barrister having more sense than the judge.

Swords Man gets 8 months for slapping woman on bum

Comments