Chatroom users 'egged on father to kill himself live on webcam'

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randhail

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What an awful and bizarre story:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...man+commits+suicide+on+live+webcam/article.do

A father-of-two hanged himself live over the internet in Britain's first 'cyber suicide'.
Kevin Whitrick, 42, took his life after being goaded by dozens of chatroom users from across the world who initially believed he was play acting.
But as they watched in horror, Mr Whitrick climbed onto a chair, smashed through a ceiling and then hanged himself with a piece of rope.
Stunned by what they had witnessed - broadcast on a popular chatroom website used by millions of people across the globe - chatroom users immediately contacted the police.
Officers rushed to the electrician's home in the Wellington area of Shropshire within minutes, smashing down the door to try to save him.
 
I read about that. I can't believe people want to go into chatrooms to insult other people, let alone encourage people to commit suicide. Then again having witnessed certain things on msg boards, maybe nothing surprises me anymore :|
 
This kind of thing makes me so bloody angry, but I am (in that weird paradoxical way) pleased it hasn't happened before now. Given the types who utilise the internet for satisfaction and pleasure in utterly sociopathic ways, it's a small wonder death doesn't result more often. Even little old sites like this have its share of moral scum who participate in stomach churning (in the least) behaviour. It's like prostitution, or drug addiction in real life; it's there but hidden.
 
im sorry, but this guy is fricken crazy...

why is it the people's in the chat rooms fault? that they egged someone on? who are they kidding? I don't get it at all, peer preasure from the internet of people who they don't even know?

This guy was obviously crazy to begin with
 
tpsreports2424 said:
im sorry, but this guy is fricken crazy...

why is it the people's in the chat rooms fault? that they egged someone on? who are they kidding? I don't get it at all, peer preasure from the internet of people who they don't even know?

This guy was obviously crazy to begin with

Who's placed fault?:huh:

But what would you prefer, that humanity stepped in and tried to save someone or egged on someone that was obviously having some problems?

Crazy? Wow, you've obviously never had anyone close to you suffer from depression. And I hope you won't ever have to, you aren't equipped to be there for them.:|
 
Angela Harlem said:
This kind of thing makes me so bloody angry, but I am (in that weird paradoxical way) pleased it hasn't happened before now.

It's happened in the US, but not on a live webcam. I was bored one afternoon and watched one of those afternoon talk shows. It was about Internet bullying and they had four kids on stage who had bullied a kid until he committed suicide. Before the bullying began, he was happy and wasn't struggling with depression. They had some other kids on too, ones that fortunately had not committed suicide, but had all tried or contemplated it after being bullied relentlessly.

:(
 
^ Were they kids he already knew in 'real' life? Not that that would make it any 'better', but I find it hard to understand how someone could be that strongly influenced by people they don't actually know, and in theory are in a position to walk away from fairly easily.

This is one of those things that could really make a parent paranoid. :slant:
 
He was logged on with around 50 other users to a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other".

:huh:

i dont understand what people get out of this.

i blame al gore, he never should have invented the internet.
 
yolland said:
^ Were they kids he already knew in 'real' life? Not that that would make it any 'better', but I find it hard to understand how someone could be that strongly influenced by people they don't actually know, and in theory are in a position to walk away from fairly easily.

This is one of those things that could really make a parent paranoid. :slant:

I don't remember, but all of the bullying was done in e-mails and on MySpace. They probably went to the same school, but the bully kids had a little name for their group and picked people at random to bully. It wasn't so much that he was bullied by these kids, but that no one else would talk to him and he was mocked by his entire class b/c of what these four kids said/made up about him. The same was true for the girl they featured. One person got mad at her and posted a bunch of lies, and it became like a mob of people feeding off each other, all hurling insults at her for no reason. Her mom pressed charges and moved the daughter, but anyone can read anything on the Internet, so that shit will follow her forever.
 
I'm not surprised at all. I've seen similar things on other forums, and there are loads of suicide websites. This may be the first suicide in Britain to be broadcast live on the internet, but it's certainly not the first in the world.
 
I read somewhere that it was only a few of the people in the chatroom who were encouraging him to hang himself. There were actually a few brave and decent people who despite realising that they could be witnessing something horribly disturbing, still entered the chat room to try and prevent him from ending his life.

A sickening tale, more so for the fact that people wanted to watch this nasty act.

Reminds me of something which happened in my high school days, where some sicko downloaded clips of stuff like a wounded but very much alive Russian shoulder having his throat sliced open, and a clip of a woman suiciding by shooting herself in the head. I never saw these clips, but I saw the group of quite normal (or so I thought) 15-16 year old kids huddled around a computer screen watching them with this grotesque intrigue.

The internet might be a decent communicative tool, but it is also an opiate for the sick minded. There is too much nasty stuff...child porn, live suicides and the like...and it's a sad reflection on a society when it seems so many people are willing to witness such stuff.
 
Liesje said:


I don't remember, but all of the bullying was done in e-mails and on MySpace. They probably went to the same school, but the bully kids had a little name for their group and picked people at random to bully. It wasn't so much that he was bullied by these kids, but that no one else would talk to him and he was mocked by his entire class b/c of what these four kids said/made up about him. The same was true for the girl they featured. One person got mad at her and posted a bunch of lies, and it became like a mob of people feeding off each other, all hurling insults at her for no reason. Her mom pressed charges and moved the daughter, but anyone can read anything on the Internet, so that shit will follow her forever.

Liesje if it's the one I saw (might have been Montel?) I think all of them were being bullied by kids who went to their school. I remember one of the kids actually moved across country with a relative to get away from it. I could definitely see that happening, though if I was being bullied I wouldn't let the bullies find me online (have different nicks or whatever).

Either way, this is just wrong...
 
The first line of this story says that the chatroom users egged him on while they thought he was "play acting".

What it doesn't say, and is the real meat of the story, is whether or not those people continued to coax him even after he made clear that he wasn't playing around.

I think that is the important bit, unfortunately the writer chose not to find out/tell us.
 
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