Judge's horror at drunken teenage torture
John Robertson and Mark Smith - The Scotsman - 17th November 2009A judge spoke of society's "horror and despair" as he sentenced two teenage girls and a boy to four years' detention each for torturing a girl of 14 and filming the sickening violence.
During a 45-minute ordeal in an underground car park, the naked victim's head was kicked like a football by the girls, aged 13 and 14, and she was beaten about the skull with stiletto heels.
She was made to lick her blood from the shoes of the assailants during the attack at Edinburgh's Omni Centre. The boy, aged 13, kept egging on his friends and called to them to "put her to sleep". Referring to a violent video game and film, he gloated: "It's like Resident Evil."
Sentencing the trio, Lord Malcolm yesterday highlighted underage drinking and youth gang culture as factors in a crime that he said had created a sense of shock because of its depravity and the level of cruelty shown by those so young.
The case last night prompted demands from MSPs for action on violent youth offending.
Lord Malcolm told the girl's attackers: "The prolonged torture and abuse … has created a sense of shock, horror and perhaps even despair, not least because of the youth of all involved. As a result of your uncontrolled cruelty and violence, your victim's life was in real danger. No words of mine can adequately describe her ordeal and the harm it has caused."
He went on: "Much could, and no doubt will, be said about how and why this happened and as to an anguished society's response to it.
"Whatever else, it is plain that the disinhibiting effect of the huge quantities of alcohol consumed by all of you played a significant part."
The judge gleaned from background reports a general picture of a gang culture among youths, where antisocial behaviour and aggression were used to gain or maintain respect and status within the group.
The accused had also experienced chaotic and violent home backgrounds. The trio, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted assaulting the victim to the danger of her life on 23 January.
Alex Prentice, QC, prosecuting, said the youngsters had been at a youth café before going to the car park at the Omni Centre in Greenside Place, where some of them drank cider.
The 13-year-old female attacker accused the victim of making threats against her, and grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. She repeatedly kicked her head, and the boy filmed the assault. The victim was pleading to be left alone, but the boy insisted: "Keep going."
The second attacker joined in, and she and her friend took it in turns to kick and punch their victim, who was naked and slumped on the ground. The boy told them to "kick the ba'". They began to take "shots" kicking her head "as if it were a football", Mr Prentice said.
"The video footage shows her slumped against a wall which is covered in blood. The boy stated, 'It's like Resident Evil' – a horror film and adult computer game.
"He stated to the accused to 'put her to sleep' and 'stamp on her head'. Various references are made about her blood being on their shoes, and he instructed her to lick their shoes. He told her, 'You're going six feet under.' A noise was heard, and the group ran," Mr Prentice told the court.
The victim spent six days in hospital recovering from multiple injuries. She told police she had feared her attackers would not stop, and that she might have died had they not been disturbed.
Duncan Hughes, defending the 13-year-old female attacker, said the girl had witnessed and been a victim of violence at home, and a psychologist had reported she saw the world "through blood-soaked spectacles".
He added: "She feels ashamed and horrible when she thinks about this offence."
Stuart Carson, defending the second girl, said: "She is disgusted by her actions. That is encouraging for the future. She is very keen she never finds herself in this position again."
Brian Gilfedder, acting for the boy, said everyone hoped the victim made a full recovery, both physically and mentally, from her "extremely degrading and humiliating experience".
He said the boy had not known "real, proper parenting" and had suffered abuse and neglect from an early age, adding: "You can add to that access to and viewing of inappropriate films and games involving extreme violence. That is his background."
Lord Malcolm said neither the consumption of alcohol nor troubled backgrounds diluted the trio's responsibility.
"Even in one so young, self-induced intoxication is no defence to, or an excuse for, what happened, and most young people from disruptive backgrounds do not indulge in violence, let alone such extreme violence," he said.
He ordered that the three offenders be supervised for five years after their release from custody, and expressed hope that they might emerge as reformed and redeemed individuals. He told them: "I must mark society's revulsion at your conduct. However, the law also recognises that a child offender bears less personal responsibility.
"Inherent in youth is the possibility of change – one might hope the likelihood of change."
The victim left the High Court in Edinburgh without comment, but her sister said: "We are ecstatic. It is better than we expected. She (the victim] is really pleased with the outcome."
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said the brutal attack was an "appalling indictment" of Scotland's violent youth culture.
He said: "This is a shocking case involving the systematic abuse of a young girl. It is depressing that three (teenagers] can commit this sort of offence against another young person.
"The sentence is probably correct – but people should be aware that in (justice secretary] Kenny MacAskill's soft-touch Scotland, four years means two years.
: "This case demonstrates the nonsense of increasing the age of criminal responsibility to 16, as has been suggested by some."
Mr Aitken also called for greater restrictions on violent video games being made available to young people, saying: "The video game referred to by these young people as they committed this crime seems to be particularly savage.
"I do think we now have to look very, very carefully at the effects of such video games and films on the more susceptible juvenile mind. They may have 18 certificates, but children are still getting hold of these violent images."
Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said: "The role which alcohol played demonstrates the need for more effective action to ensure children cannot obtain alcohol so easily."
He added: "There needs to be an investigation to see if the violent behaviour of these individuals could have been spotted earlier."
John Robertson: Compelling grounds must be found before cloak of anonymity removed
The three teenagers in this case are under the age of 16, and so the law provides them with a cloak of anonymity which judges may lift, but seldom do.
Children who offend are viewed by the law as requiring care and guidance more than punishment, and Scotland's children's hearings system, which is built on such a philosophy, has been lauded around the world.
There are times, of course, when the crime committed by a juvenile is so grave that he or she is taken before a court, rather than being dealt with by the Children's Panel.
When that happens, the same rules apply – there can be no identification in the media by name, address or school, nor any particulars given from which the youngster could be identified.
Requests can be made to the sheriff or judge to dispense with the prohibition, and the ban can be lifted – but only if it is considered to be in the public interest. It cannot be done merely as another form of punishing the youth.
Some years ago, a judge was persuaded to allow the naming of a 14-year-old girl involved in the homophobic murder of a man in Glasgow.
She featured in swathes of publicity – but after an appeal, her conviction was quashed. However, by then, nothing could be done to remove the stigma because of the publicity, and many people felt the decision to permit the naming ought to have been held back until the appeal process had been completed.
Lord Malcolm was asked in yesterday's case to consider lifting the automatic veto on identification.
He heard submissions from lawyers representing the trio – concern was expressed about the possible implications on their wider families – and details on how the situation is approached south of the Border.
There, it has been decreed that the general rule is in place for good reasons, and rarely will it be appropriate to dispense with it.
Lord Malcolm said he could detect no compelling public interest grounds to relax the prohibition.
Four years for torture teenagers
BBC News
Three youths who tortured a 14-year-old girl in a car park and filmed the attack on a mobile phone have each been sentenced to four years' detention.
The two 14-year-old girls and a 13-year-old boy stripped their victim naked and hit her with stiletto heels during the 45-minute ordeal in January.
The boy compared the aftermath of the attack in Edinburgh to a scene from Resident Evil.
Judge Lord Malcolm said it had been an attack of "uncontrolled cruelty".
The three teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were sentenced to four years' detention, followed by a further five years' supervision.
The trio had earlier admitted assaulting their teenage victim to her severe injury and to the danger of her life at the car park at the Omni Centre in Greenside Place, and filming the attack.
The victim's family said they were pleased by the outcome and that the sentence was better than they had hoped for.
Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Malcolm said: "The prolonged torture and abuse inflicted by you on a young person has created a sense of shock, horror and perhaps of despair, not least because of the youth of all involved.
"As a result of your uncontrolled cruelty and violence your victim's life was in real danger.
"No words of mine can adequately describe her ordeal and the harm it has caused."
'Break her jaw'
The judge said background reports showed that for each of the attackers one or more factors applied.
They included "a chaotic, abusive and violent home background" characterised by parental neglect and the absence of appropriate guidelines; active involvement in Edinburgh's youth gang culture; underage drinking; and "disengagement from education".
During the attack, the boy, from Edinburgh, taunted the victim and filmed the violence on his mobile phone.
He told one of the female attackers to "get her naked" and encouraged them in the attack, saying at one stage: "Break her jaw".
Video footage showed the victim slumped against a wall which was covered in blood.
The boy was heard saying "it's like Resident Evil" - a reference to the horror film and computer game of the same name.
The naked, blood-stained victim managed to make her way upstairs to the leisure complex after the attack in the underground car park.
She was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where casualty doctors found she was covered from head to toe in dried blood.
She was found to have six two-centimetre wounds on the back on her head, which had been inflicted with stiletto heels.
The girl spent almost a week in hospital recovering from her injuries.
See also:
'I doused a girl in petrol and set her alight', admits teen
The age of criminal responsibility
Public faces Calton Hill ban at night in bid to cut crime
Scots are most at risk of violent attacks
Scotland's First and Second Division Judges
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