Horrific slice of reality in knife campaign

Grisly images of real-life wounds are being used today in the most explicit government campaign ever to try to fight knife crime, reports Metro.

"Photos of a man with a blade plunged in his chest, of exposed intestines and a gangrenous leg form part of a horrific series of adverts.

Ministers hope the £3million 'viral' campaign, aimed at mobile phone users and internet sites such as Bebo, will finally shock youngsters into not carrying knives, after a series of street murders. "

Stark warning over 'happy slapping'

Gavin Waterhouse was punched and kicked to death, while another teenager filmed the incident on a cameraphone. The film was sent around to friend's mobile phones and posted on the Internet. The BBC reports.

"The decision to prosecute the teenager who filmed that fatal attack on her mobile phone has been hailed as a legal landmark by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Judith Naylor, from the CPS said it was thought to be the first time a suspect in England and Wales had been successfully prosecuted for aiding and abetting murder or manslaughter by a "happy slapping" attack.

She was sentenced to two years' detention in a young offenders' institution when she appeared at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday. "

'Happy slap' death girl convicted

A 15-year-old girl has admitted filming the death of a man on her mobile phone in a so-called "happy slapping" attack, reports the BBC.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the girl was handed a mobile phone by one of the attackers and was told to "video this".

She then approached Mr Waterhouse and asked him for some money before recording the attack upon him.

Prosecution witnesses said they saw and heard the attackers boasting about what they had just done, saying it was not the first time that they had attacked the victim. They also shared the video footage with friends, the court heard.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the decision to prosecute the girl was a legal landmark. Mark Masters, 19, and a male, 17, have admitted manslaughter.

All three defendants will be sentenced at a later date. "

Murderer may have captured death on his cameraphone

File under heinous and stupid. The man accused of bludgeoning a Madera teenager to death may have taken photographs with his cell phone afterward to prove to his girlfriend that he had done it, authorities said Tuesday.

[via FresnoBee]

Digital activists expose abuse

The power of online video to document human rights abuse and raise international awareness was the subject of a panel discussion on technology and social change convened at the United Nations on Monday as part of celebrations commemorating Human Rights Day. The BBC reports.

"The power of visual images can go a long way in making people wake up," Jenni Wolfson of the human rights group Witness told the audience of NGO representatives and UN officers. "It won't allow perpetrators to say that abuses didn't happen, won't allow them to say they didn't know what was going on."

Human rights organisations are now trying to harness this technology to benefit the victims while minimising the advantage to the abusers."

'A' train teen regrets not helping victim

The Harlem teen who filmed the vicious a train assault is sorry she didn't step in to help the man whose brutal beating she posted on YouTube, her attorney said Saturday, reports New York Daily News.

"She regrets not doing more to help the victim," Earl Ward said of his client, Kadejra Holmes, 17.

"And she feels bad that she posted it on YouTube ... Looking back, she realizes the appropriate response should have been to turn the tape over to authorities."

Kadejra was in a Brooklyn-bound A train when a group of girls began taunting a seated man and then pounced on him.

She posted her 4-minute, 18-second video of the assault on YouTube on Nov. 7.

The victim, Rafael Cruz, 27, of Brooklyn, did not strike back or report the incident to cops. He said on Friday that he was shocked no one on the train came to his defense. "

Mobile phone film men sentenced

Three men arrested after an assault on a 14-year-old girl, which was filmed on mobile phones, have been given a total of almost 500 hours community service.

"... The court heard that the victim, who is now 16, had attended a party at her friend's home in Knightswood in the west of Glasgow on 11 June 2005.

The teenager said she had drunk two vodkas and some beer before she passed out.

The court was shown two clips recorded on mobile phone cameras at the party.

One of the men had shown footage from the party to colleagues. The first showed the youngster being humiliated and taunted as she lay on a couch and in the second she was indecently assaulted.

... No-one was found guilty of actually filming the attack on the girl."

2 Egyptian police sentenced for torture

Two police officers were convicted Monday of torturing a bus driver in an abuse case that came to light when a cell phone video of the man being beaten and sodomized appeared on Egyptian blogs and YouTube. The Associated Press reports.

"They were sentenced to three years in prison.

... In November 2006, several Egyptian bloggers posted a video showing a man naked from the waist down being sodomized with a stick. As he screamed in pain, those around him, whose faces were not visible, ridiculed him and threatened him that they were going to spread the video among his fellow drivers to humiliate him."

X Factor girl quits over happy slapping video

X Factor talent show hopeful Emily Nakanda has quit in shame after being videoed "happy slapping" a teenage girl. UK's Mirror reports.

From X Factor website:

Emily will not sing in the competition on Saturday’s big band night, and for her, the competition is over.

Emily chose to withdraw from the competition following stories which have appeared in the tabloids over the last couple of days. She is pictured, on mobile phone footage and video stills, allegedly carrying out so-called happy-slapping attacks.

Previously: - 'X Factor' Finalist Emily Exposed As A Happy Slapper

'X Factor' Finalist Emily Exposed As A Happy Slapper

X Factor Talent show finalist Emily Nakanda has been exposed as a happy slapper, according to Entertainment News.

"A British tabloid has obtained video footage – sent via mobile phone to children around Emily’s North London home – of the wannabe pop star brutally attacking a another girl.

X Factor bosses are currently investigating the incident and will decide whether she can remain on the show."

Caught on Cell Phone: Minnesota Football Player Charged In Sex Assault

A University of Minnesota football player was charged this week with criminal sexual conduct for allegedly having sex with an unconscious woman at a party, and police say part of the incident was caught on a cell phone camera. [via ABCNews]

L.A. Teens Taped Homeless Beatings on Cell Phones

Four teenage boys have been arrested and charged with attacking homeless men and recording the violence on their cell phones. ABC7Local reports.

"Police say the boys, ranging in age from 15 to 17, drove around Los Angeles looking for victims. They are being accused for six separate attacks during the last two weeks.

The boys allegedly shot homeless people with air pistols, and tossed smoke bombs while their cell phones rolled.

LAPD says the suspects planned to post the images on the internet. "

Greek Police Torture Video Published on Athens Indymedia

At least four policemen torture two migrants inside the police station of Omonia in central Athens. They force them to beat each other while one of the policemen repeatedly instructs them to "hit harder" and beats both. Indybay reprots.

For nearly a year, the above footage was circulated amongst policemen via mobile phones.

On the early hours of the 16th of June 2007 the video was uploaded to a commercial video sharing service and from there, to Athens Indymedia.

A few hours later it featured as breaking news in all of the country's major media outlets, forcing prime minister Karamanlis to issue a statement condemning the incident.

Related torture/abuse incidents from Egypt:

-- Egypt's Torture Video Sparks Outrage

-- Egyptian Prisoner's torture sent to his friend's cell phones by police

-- Video phones expose torture in Egypt

Students' Internet video provokes rage

A video posted on the Internet of an unruly classroom berating and elderly teacher, made web surfers angry - and led to a witch hunt. China Daily reports.

"Many viewers started to look for the name of the school and identities of these students. By examining the video, the students' uniforms, the layout of the classroom and the content on the blackboard revealed this event happened in Beijing Haidian Art Vocational School, according to some netizens.

After the school was identified, some hackers attacked the school website several times and left messages on the site to condemn the involved students.

This event entered a new stage on May 28 when people appeared in front of the gate of the vocational school hoping to find the involved students. This confused and scared innocent students, who dared not to go out of the school to buy lunch during the break. Some students even asked their parents to accompany with them to the school.

Sun Xinmao, the nearly 70 year-old teacher who was insulted that day was interviewed by the Beijing News. He said he was not angry since he was not severely abused by these students, and they apologized to him after class.

Xu Suxia, a vice president at the school has reported the incident to the district education department and the Beijing Municipal Education Commission has started its own investigation."

Fatal swan attack filmed on phone

An eight-second film sent to the BBC shows a person with a hood drawn up over his head tempting a swan with some bread, then kicking him in the head.

"The person who kicked the swan and his companion who filmed the incident could both be heard "squealing in delight at what they've managed to accomplish", said Steve Knight, a trustee of the Swan Sanctuary.

According to Knight, "we started getting information coming through that there was this footage going round the local schools on mobile phones. We put up posters with my mobile number on and somebody anonymously texted me the footage."

Local residents have helped accumulate at least £3,000 towards a reward to catch the perpetrators. "

Teens charged over camphone filmed gang rape

Sydney police say they have now charged all five teenagers arrested over a gang rape, filmed using a mobile phone camera. [via News.com.au]

"... Police say the alleged sex attack was recorded on a mobile phone video camera. Copies of the video are circulating among school students, and police warn anyone caught sending the footage faces up to three years' jail.

Police are now trying to stop the video circulating and to trace who has possessed it, and passed it on."

Mobile phone captures Russian teacher beating student

A teacher in northern Russia could face up to three years in prison after being captured on a mobile phone camera beating a student in front of his classmates. The student ended up in the hospital, The AFP reports.

"A shaky video taken by one of Tolya Ivanov's classmates shows his teacher holding him up against the blackboard striking him on the head repeatedly and throwing him across the room.

... The school's reaction to the beating was to approach the student who took the video to ask him to delete it.

An investigation has been opened into the incident with the teacher facing up to three years in prison if found guilty, prosecutor Yelena Smirnova told the television."

Gang rape of 11-year-old girl taped on cell phone

A 11-year-old girl was raped last June in the basement of an Eastpointe home by 5 five teenagers who took turns having sex her, reports Detroit News. "A 10-second cell phone video clip was passed around the girl's neighborhood until her mother heard about it and reported it to police.

"The 10-second clip was deleted and police have been unable to recover the footage, but there is no doubt of it's existence.

The five suspects, ages 15-19, are charged as adults and face up to life in prison if convicted."

[via boingboing]

Curbs call on pupils' phone usage

Teaching union representatives have called for schools to be made "mobile phone free zones" 1the filming of an alleged attack on a head teacher in Scotland. The BBC reports.

"Concerns have been raised after a "happy slapping" incident last week in which a 15-year-old boy allegedly assaulted a Borders school rector. The pupil had been excluded from school in the morning and had returned at lunchtime, when the alleged attack took place. This appears to be the first real incident involving a teacher."

Related:

-- Students use cameraphones to falsify evidence - A student mocks up a picture on his phone using Photoshop to make it look as if a teacher was hitting a pupil.

15-year-old 'happy slaps headteacher'

A 15-year old boy has been arrested after "happy slapping" his headteacher in a school canteen, it was reported last night, according to Scotsman News.

"... Bill McGregor, of the Headteachers' Association of Scotland, said: "This represents two new lows in Scottish schools. The first is a pupil feeling he can go and physically attack a teacher. The second is this spreading phenomenon of the use of mobile phones in schools to film and pass the images on."

Student expelled for filming agression with his cameraphone

Last October several teenage girls beat up another teenager girl while others stood by and watched. One of them filmed the incident on his cameraphone and sent the clip around to his friends' phones.

He has just been dismissed from his school as the board of directors, supported by a federal court, judged that by filming and broadcasting the film, he played an active role. His friends who were passive onlookers . were reprimanded, but not dismissed.

[via Le Matin Bleu]

Care-Giving Facility Beating Caught On Cell Phone Camera

A disturbing video shot on cameraphone of a care home in Anaheim shows two mentally disabled men being brutally beaten by their caregiver. News8 KFMB reports.

The story didn't come out because the co-worker tapping the incident wanted to shed light on something terrible, but because he sold his phone to someone else at the care-giving facility who brought it in to the Anaheim Police.

Police 'sex assault' turns up online

Human Rights Watch urged Egyptian authorities Saturday to prosecute a group of police officers whose alleged sexual assault of a Cairo minibus driver was recorded in a cellphone video and has cropped up on the Internet, reports IOL.

"In a statement, the United States-based human rights group said Imad al-Kabir was detained for 36 hours last January after intervening in a dispute between police and a cousin.

Whilst inside the Bulaq police station, it said, Kabir was bound by his arms and legs, "severely whipped", then "raped... with a stick while one (police officer) videotaped the episode with a mobile phone".

Greece bans cell-phone use at schools

According to USA Today, Greece's Education Ministry on Thursday issued a blanket ban on use of cellular phones in schools, arguing that they disrupt classes.

"The ban follows the alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl by four male students at a school on the island of Evia in October, and the alleged videotaping of the incident on a cellphone of a fellow student."

Inmates send Happy Slap videos to cons in other jails

Happy slap attacks are being filmed inside prisons and sent to cons in other jails, reports UK's Sunday Mirror.

"One sickening video shows a terrified inmate with blows raining down on his head and being kicked.

The clip was then sent to at least 10 other jails, including top security prisons Belmarsh, Woodhill and Manchester - which house terrorists, murderers and rapists.

A prison source said: "We couldn't believe that a phone was being used for happy slap attacks. It's bad enough phones can be smuggled in, but for them then to be used for sick recordings of beatings is shocking.

"It shows we're losing the battle to stop phones getting into prisons. They could be used to organise crime or plan an escape."

On the same phone, found in Swaleside prison, Sheppey, Kent, was a picture of a grinning inmate with a tray holding 12 mobiles. "

YouTube accused of fuelling random acts of violence

British leaders are considering enforcing a crackdown on Internet video sites such as YouTube following claims that they are fuelling random acts of violence. Sawf News Connect reports.

"Commons leader Jack Straw yesterday urged MPs to try to get legal controls included in the Violent Crimes Bill when it comes for discussion next week.

He was responding to Labour MP Iain Wright, who said he was sickened by a YouTube video of a man being kicked unconscious.

... Elsewhere, the National Association of Head Teachers also called on YouTube, bought by Google last week for 855 million pounds to ban clips mocking school staff. Teachers said pupils often use the site to humiliate staff.

One video apparently features shots of a teacher's breasts and others show staff being sworn at or verbally abused."

Teens posting schoolyards fights on-line

Students engaging in violent fights just so they can post videos of the clash on the Internet is something for parents to deal with, not Canadian lawmakers, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday, reports The Globe and Mail.

"The fight videos from Orangeville District High School posted on YouTube show different pairs of teens punching and kicking each other as others cheer them on and use their camera phones to record the action.

There are similar videos from high schools across North America posted on the popular video sharing web site. A search for ‘school fights turns up over 3,000 videos on youtube.com, including several from Orangeville, Ont.

Users of the video-sharing web site can also post comments about the images they see, and most of those talking about the Orangeville fight club were full of profanities."

Happy Slapping hits Singapore

Color renderings from The Electric New Paper's account of a "happy slapping" incident in Singapore, where three girls assaulted another girl.

" Such aggression is not new, said Mr David Kan, counsellor and executive director of the Family Life Centre.

All that is new is how assailants are using handphone cameras to record their actions, as such video recording becomes more commonplace.

... Mr Adrian Lim, the managing director of Tyem Academy which equips out-of-school youths with career academic programmes, has seen videos showing girls beating up other girls.

He explained that such clips are the teenagers' way of saying 'don't play punk with me. I'm quite fierce; see what I'm capable of'.

Mr Lim said: 'This is reality TV brought to the handphone level."

European countries alarmed at spread of Happy Slapping

The Houston Chronicle and The Washington Post report on how Happy Slapping is spreading in Europe - and how European schools and governments are considering banning cell phones.

... "An attack on the teacher last month at a vocational high school in the town of Porcheville, in the Yvelines region west of Paris, sparked concern that youths could now be using phones to film premeditated violence.

According to the AP, "French police say they know of about 20 cases of filmed violence. A police captain in Paris says some young people see the exhibitions "as a way for the poor to get revenge against the rich."

"In a sign that politicians are growing concerned, the education minister said Wednesday he wants cell phones banned from classrooms.

Other parts of Europe already have taken action. The German state of Bavaria and dozens of schools in Ireland have barred cell phones from classrooms.

Last month, Danish courts handed down the first "happy slapping" convictions to two teens. The pair, a boy and a girl, had recorded an assault on a passer-by in a Copenhagen shopping mall in February.

In one of the most chilling cases, a report in the French daily L'Express on Wednesday said that photos were taken of a young girl in Nice who was gang-raped this year, and that the images were circulated at her school."

According to the AP, French police say they know of about 20 cases of filmed violence. A police captain in Paris says some young people see the exhibitions "as a way for the poor to get revenge against the rich."

Happy Slapping has occured in Switzerland as well. Click here for link to article (in French) and actual videos

Happy slapper . . . . slapped: The Video

mocoblog has found the video to the "happy slapper" getting a taste of his own medecine. [sound version on You Tube]

Related:

-- Happy slapper . . . . slapped - A happy slapper’s mobile phone recording of an attack took an unexpected twist when his victim retaliated, flooring his assailant with a single punch - Times Online

Happy slapper . . . . slapped

A happy slapper’s mobile phone recording of an attack took an unexpected twist when his victim retaliated, flooring his assailant with a single punch, reports the Times Online.

"In footage that is rapidly gaining cult status, an athletic young man in a white vest is seen plotting the attack on a stranger, filmed on his friend’s mobile phone.

... The victim recoils in pain and drops the bag. He sees his attacker turn and walk back to his friend, who is laughing and still recording the scene.

Incredulous, he screams with rage. He asks his attacker what he was doing. Judging by his accent, he appears to be from Liverpool.

The victim then approaches the youth and throws a fierce right-hand jab, punching him on the chin and knocking him unconscious.

The man holding the camera phone shouts his friend’s name but carries on filming.

... He is perhaps the first recorded victim to turn the tables on his would-be attackers since the slapping craze began."

Happy slapping arrives in Tenerife

The first known case in the Canary Islands of so-called “happy slapping”, a youth craze in which video phones are used to record attacks on unsuspecting victims of 3g technology, took place in Puerto de la Cruz this month when three local teenagers recorded the beating they meted out to a classmate outside Puerto de la Cruz’s IES secondary school, on camera. [via Tenerife News]

Sadly, not a first for Spain. - Shades of Happy Slapping in Barcelona

Happy Slapping hits Germany

According to The Telegraph, "happy slapping", "Lustiges Draufschlagen" or "Fröhliches Schlagen" as it has variously come to be known, is becoming a real problem in playgrounds across German schools.

Excerpts:

... Some of the most recent attacks are also the most disturbing.

At the Dag Hammarskjöld school in the southern district of Tempelhof last Tuesday a 15-year-old girl was attacked by 15 youths on her way home because she had laughed at a school mate during a lesson. They beat her up and filmed the attack which was discovered by police after her mother complained.

In the eastern district of Friedrichshain a large group of youths attacked passers-by with sticks and beer bottles.

And in the case that has come to be known as the "Big Rabbit", rival pupils from schools in the neighbouring districts of Kreuzberg and Neukölln laid into each other in a local park and filmed the action.

Meanwhile there is evidence that the phenomenon is taking on ever more disturbing features after police raided a school in Bavaria following a parental tip-off and confiscated 200 phones.

On a large number of them they found violent videos, Nazi propaganda and violent pornography on the phones of children as young as 12 who swapped the images during breaks or after school. "

Other than the UK, where the trend seems to have originated, happy slapping incidents have also been reported in Switzerland and Spain .

One phone, 14 'happy slap' attacks

Victims of a “happy slap” gang came forward last night after footage was shown on television of 14 attacks filmed on a mobile phone since seized by police investigating the killing of a teenager, reports The Times.

Scotland Yard released pictures taken from the phone to encourage witnesses to come forward. The footage includes clips of a woman being knocked off her bicycle, a man being punched in the face, another being kicked in the face and several victims being slapped. Detectives believe that they can identify some of the attackers, but the Crown Prosecution Service had demanded more evidence before charges could be brought.

Detective Chief Inspector Ellie O’Connor said: “Every phone incident captured is incredibly violent. There is nothing amusing about the attacks, and every victim is visibly distressed. We are keen to trace each victim to ensure that those responsible do not go unpunished.”

The attacks are thought to have taken place in North or East London, and police want to talk to anyone who recognises the locations. The attackers were wearing hooded sweatshirts, but the clips have sound. Police believe that they can identify some of the voices.

See also yesterday's post: Violent attacks filmed on phone.

Violent attacks filmed on phone

Violent footage of people being attacked at random has been found on the mobile phone of a 17-year-old boy, reports the BBC

"The phone was confiscated as part of the investigation into the killing of 18-year-old Triston Christmas in 2005. Triston's mother said a mobile phone video recording of him as he lay dying had been passed around his classmates.

Police never found footage of Triston, but did find 14 other assaults, in north or east London, and want the victims to come forward. They think the assaults were deliberately staged for filming.

Every phone incident captured is incredibly violent. ... People being punched, kicked, slapped and mugged by a laughing, taunting gang.

Detective Chief Inspector Ellie O'Connor, who is investigating the videoed assaults at Barking and Dagenham CID, said: "We now need to identify the victims of these assaults in order to pursue a criminal investigation."

Faces have been pixillated so the victims cannot be identified by anyone else, but police say they will recognise themselves. They also want anyone who recognises the areas filmed to get in touch. "

Related article in today's This is London, giving more details of the footage and places the scenes of the crimes in either north or east London.

Young thugs carry out attacks just "for the buzz"

Here's something appalling.

According to The Mirror, "one in five young thugs carry out attacks just "for the buzz", with figures showing a sharp rise in street crime.

"The Home Office found violent teenage attackers gave innocent victims a beating simply for fun or because they were bored and "had nothing else to do".

Five per cent of those quizzed admitted carrying out assaults as a dare by friends - often with the happy slapping filmed on their mobile phones. Only six per cent blamed their behaviour on boozing. "

Happy slappers jailed

A killer gang of "happy slappers" were jailed for a total of 44 years yesterday, after chilling pictures were released of them committing their crimes, reports The Daily Telegraph.

... "In October 2004, the thugs (including a female accomplice) staged five separate attacks on eight people, mirroring the gang in the book and film A Clockwork Orange, in which codewords are used to initiate violence.

The gang, known as the Sargeant Crew, muttered, "You know what time it is?" to trigger their assaults. When they got home, they gathered around the girl's phone and laughed at what they had done, even mimicking the agony of their victims."

Related articles on happy slapping crimes - an appallingly long and chilling list:

-- Shades of Happy Slapping in Spain

-- "Happy slappers" attack women with baseball bats

-- Happy Slapping youths convicted of manslaughter

-- 'Happy slappers' attack star

-- Video phones spread 'happy slapping'

-- Boy bound, masked and set on fire - and filmed on cameraphone

-- Parents see dying son in phone video

-- Girl raped in 'happy slap' attack

-- Bullies 'taking phone pictures'

-- Tortured for £75: a victim of the new form of 'happy slapping' designed to instil terror

-- Happy slapping' victim tells how attack was filmed

-- Boy, 12 videoed as he was attacked

-- Gang 'happy slaps' cancer woman

-- Happy-slappers now target pizza delivery drivers

-- Girl arrested over 'happy slapping' attack

-- Mother's Anger at 'Happy Slapping' Attack

-- Does 'happy slapping' exist?

-- Thugs film girl attack on phone

-- "Happy Slapping" footage

-- Concern over rise of 'happy slapping' craze

-- The Happy Slap collection

-- Sick beating is filmed for fun

-- Happy slap culprits face suspension

-- Schools Ban Camera Phones Amid 'Happy Slapping' Craze

-- Putting the photos in perspective