'Happy slapping' made me feel sick

A MAN spoke of his shock yesterday after witnessing a 'happy slapping' attack in St Peter Port. Tree surgeon Paul Bisson described the incident, which involved a group of youths filming one of their number beating another teenager, as 'horrible' and 'sickening'.

The 29-year-old saw a teenage girl hitting another while a group of five others stood watching. One of them, a boy, appeared to be recording the assault on his mobile phone.

'It was horrible, it made me feel a bit sick,' he said.

'It was a totally unfair fight. It was horrible to see.'

Mr Bisson was woken by noises outside his flat in Les Canichers just before midnight on Sunday. Looking out of the window, he saw a gang of teenagers in the alley below.

'I saw one girl pushing another one around,' he said.

'Then she slapped her. The girl said: ?what are you doing? I haven't done anything?.

'The attacker slapped her twice across the face, hard, while this boy was filming the whole thing.'

Mr Bisson put on some clothes to go downstairs to help, but the youngsters had run off by the time he reached the door. Other witnesses had already called police to the scene.

'I hope it doesn't turn into some kind of sadistic fad, like in the UK,' he said.

'The way the other teenagers were just watching was a bit weird and a bit sick. This type of thing should get nipped in the bud straight away.

'The authorities can put everyone else off doing it by giving severe punishments to the offenders.'

Mr Bisson thought it should be easy to trace the culprits via the mobile phone network.

Police said they were aware of the incident and that inquiries were being made.

NCH youth worker Adam Farish said he had never heard of such an incident in Guernsey.

'Happy slapping' attacks became prominent in the UK two years ago. Advances in mobile phone technology meant video footage of assaults could easily be passed around among teenagers.

Increased use of internet video-sharing sites such as YouTube has also been cited as a reason for more assaults.

In March, French authorities passed a law preventing anyone who is not a professional journalist broadcasting real-world violence on the internet. Critics called it a 'clumsy attempt' to stem the tide of such incidents.