Comments on: Gay teen was goaded into suicide by jeering mob

By: David

David — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:12:54 +0000

I was so very sorry to read about the death of Shaun (who I never
knew) and the very disturbing circumstances aropund it. Someone
should have noticed how troubled he was.
I just hope he is happier now.

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By: Courts

Courts — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:20:14 +0000

The people jeering this young man to his death are, in my eyes, murderers. Suicidal people are not in their "right mind." Like a plea of temporary insanity, I would argue that Shaun was not of sound mind, following the demands of the crowd. Perhaps the police would have been able to talk him out of it successfully without the distraction of shouting homophobes. Murderers. They should all be tried. That's my theory.

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By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:39:33 +0000

You know what I blame this on the breakdown of? Society.

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By: rjb

rjb — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:35:06 +0000

No. The "Brits" call themselves 'civilised', Joseph.

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By: Joseph Noone

Joseph Noone — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:51:39 +0000

I thought the Brits called themselves "civilized."

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By: Gary

Gary — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:35:07 +0000

The UK is filled with hypocrites who discriminate if they can, only tolerating if they must. In short, it is a society governed by psuedo-tolerance.

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By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:27:33 +0000

Humanity is a little less humane today. What sadness there is in what we have become.

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By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:31:28 +0000

I think this case is absolutely tragic and just shows how unkind and uncaring some people are.

It would be very very difficult now to link those shouting 'jump' directly with the young mans death – but there were certainly public order offences committed at the time – that should have been dealt with by the police. For the police to say that they did not have enough manpower available to deal with this is an admission that they were under-resourced and incapable of dealing with this situation in its entirety (the suicidal male and the public order element). They should be held accountable for not being in a position to put a stop to those shouting 'jump' etc.

I also feel desperately sorry for the officers who tried to talk him down but were unable to do so. I'm sure this incident will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

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By: Don

Don — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:18:35 +0000

Here in the United States, we have received reports of this Hate Crime. Such conduct by Derby residence is the equivalent of our Texas residence who executed Matthew Shepard another gay man killed by bigots. The Prime Minister himself must address this issue a Society that goats on and assists a teenager to commit suicide in a participant in Murder and should be convicted of same. This is wicked sick conduct.

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By: Joseph

Joseph — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:44:08 +0000

I don't know that much about British law, but it seems to me that those who were chanting "Go ahead, kill yourself, you …" are guilty of depraved indeference and should be held accountable for their part in this whole un-Godly mess.

Had he died because a bartender kept serving him after he became intoxicated, the bartender would be legally responsible in many countries and could be sued and/or jailed for his irresponsible actions.

For someone to taunt a child who obviously is already having problems and is on the verge of a breakdown just seems criminal to me. If they don't pay for this depraved indeference here on earth, I feel they will surely pay when God judges them. And that is the way it should be.

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By: Joe Johnston

Joe Johnston — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:29:56 +0000

It is not acceptable for the police to say they were too busy trying to help Shaun – that might have been true at the time but it would not be difficult to now identify and DEAL WITH the scum who were goading him. There would be plebty of witnesses and evidence in the form of pictures on mobile phones and it is so easy for the police to find out who has posted the abhorrent videos on the internet.
In a really just world, the scum would be rounded up and taken to the top of the building concerned and 'encouraged' to jump themselves.

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By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:51:30 +0000

Utopian, I most certainly was NOT refering to your post! You made a valid point imo.

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By: Utopian

Utopian — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:02:00 +0000

I need to clarify something. I never said the jeering was homophobic. It certainly wasn't.

What I said was that the Daily Mail knew the victim was gay and chose not to mention it in their story. You can be damn sure they would have mentioned it if it had suited their ends, or even if it had just been 'neutral' information that added more 'colour' to the story. But that newspaper sees (on behalf of the majority of its readership) homosexuality as a negative, and – for that story – the Mail did not want to say anything 'bad' about the victim, so that they could keep their readers' minds focused on main issue: the behaviour of a handful of despicable onlookers.

In saying this, I'm not (as Luke alleges) trying to score a Marxist point against the Mail. I'm making what I believe is a revealing observation about the way important parts of the media still think and operate.

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By: Pete & Michael

Pete & Michael — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:41:21 +0000

This is so sad, our heartfelt sympathy goes to his family and friends. Although we do not know what Shaun was thinking it was clearly evident that he was suffering from trauma and depression. We, as a community must ask our MP's to enforce laws to compel Health Authorities and Councils and others to adopt stringent non-discriminatory policies as outlined in the Equality Bill which has still to be enacted in law. Why are we still waiting?

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By: Graham

Graham — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:56:09 +0000

My heart breaks, both for the poor lad, and for the state of the society we have become.

Police claim that only a small minority were shouting for him to jump, but did the others do or say nothing? I couldn't watch such a sight, but if I, or anyone I know, were somehow there and someone beside me was jeering, I'm pretty sure we would have made sure that they shut up, one way or another. A riot in the crowd would hardly have helped, but did these sick creatures go completely unchallenged? Even a chorus of "Don't jump", to drown them out might have helped. For evil to triumph requires only that good men do nothing.

It seems that every day the world gets just a little more heartless and despicable.

May Shaun rest in peace, and his family and friends find some comfort.

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By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:47:52 +0000

Sick homophobes! May they all rot in hell for their hatred. The ones jeering and the others watching this freak show are guilty of assisted murder.

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By: Daniel Sullivan

Daniel Sullivan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:37:13 +0000

What kind of world are we living in when adults allow their children to stand and watch this poor lad jump to his death whilst having abuse hurtled at him by members of the public. The police have said they never arrested any of the “Bystanders” as they did not have the man power, so the homophobic abuse, I’m also sure there is a crime for assisting suicide and surely telling someone to jump to their death is exactly that will go unpunished, and to make matters worse these so called people also videoed and photographed this poor lad both during and after his suicide, how long before this horrific video will be on YouTube? These people disgust me and I will make a complaint to Derby police regarding why no action was taken, surely they must have CCTV footage of the area (as they do with other public disturbances), personally I would publically humiliate all these bystanders and show them for the backward Neanderthal’s they truly are and the so called parents should be monitored by the local social services as they have some truly strange parenting skills.

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By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:26:13 +0000

To Matty… please indicate the evidence that hatred of the fact that this man was gay was part of what what the disguting people in the onlookers did. Derbyshire Police and Derby City Council need this shuved in their faces if this is the case.

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By: Luke

Luke — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:13:30 +0000

Disgracefully, the marxist muppet twists the tragic circumstances of this boys death to try and score a cheap point where none can be made anyway.

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By: Matty Pepprell

Matty Pepprell — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:05:26 +0000

Jim… you are right, it does not matter about his sexuality. But what does matter is the homophobia involved. It would be simple for the Daily Mail (or any other news outlet) to mention the jeering was homophobic. That is all they needed to say, but they didn't.

It is very sad what has happened, and I do hope that those involved are investigated and, hopefully, charged with hate crimes.

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