Internet video “Confessions of a 16-year-old” made a 21-year-old Polish man hang himself in Poland
Warsaw, Poland 3 February, 2010 - 21 year-old Marcin was found hanged in his home following the circulation of a video in which his alleged underage lover told explicit details of their sexual encounter on a park bench.
The video, which shows 16-year-old Strzegomin student Paulina S in a park, was recorded on a mobile telephone by her friends. They admitted showing the film at school but it is unknown who uploaded it to Youtube.
In the video the girl “with the face of an angel”, as Polish media described her, used vulgar language to describe the intimate details of a man she didn’t name. She only used his nickname.
“But it’s a small town, everyone knows it’s him,” one of her friends said. The film circulated online for three weeks and was removed only after the man’s death.
Some people in Strzegomin said the man was taunted by his peers who called him a pedophile, but his friends said the girl’s account was fictional, intended as revenge.
In interrogations with police Paulina S said she made it all up.
The film described the minor’s sexual encounter on a park bench and intimate details of Marcin’s sexual problems. The film was 3 and a half minutes long and had 43 thousand views on Youtube before it was removed only after the suicide.
Polish media were very concerned with the story and it was reported on all television networks and in daily newspapers.
But not so much because of the alleged effects of a Youtube video on a young life but of the language used by a “beautiful young girl”.
“It’s so unladylike,” one television news program reported.
“She talks about their encounter in such a way that it’s not anything to be proud of, she should be ashamed,” Stanis³aw Gmurczyk said.
This isn’t the first time a Youtube video has been linked to suicide.
In Poland’ most famous case a 14-year-old girl, Anna from Gdañsk, hung herself by her skipping rope following the internet dissemination of a video of her being stripped and molested in a classroom during her teacher’s absence.
In 2008 a 17-year-old student, described as shy and quiet, committed suicide after he was filmed drunk and “acting in naked scenes” with friends on a school camp.
By Victoria Ziarkowski
Freelance Writer
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