Kidnapping in Germany a hoax

[LSN80]

A ten year old girl admitted that she hadn't been a victim of an attempted "hair kidnapping", as she and her brother had found scissors in their basement, and chopped off each others hair instead. Fearing punishment from her parents, she told her convincing tale to a neighbor,who in turn called the police. The girl later admitted it was a hoax hours later when the police questioned a change in her story. There was no intruder, she admitted, and she simply feared punishment from her parents for chopping off her brother's hair, and he her's.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/03/girls-hair-raising-kidnap-tale-a-hoax-police-say/

A 10-year-old girl in Hanover, Germany, told neighbors and police that a scissors-wielding man had tried to kidnap her and cut off her hair Tuesday, but that wasn't quite true.

In fact, it wasn't true at all, the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported.

After police spent several hours searching the girl's neighborhood for the perpetrator and guarding her house against his return, the girl admitted she had made the whole thing up.

The real story, the paper reported, was that the girl and her younger brother had found a pair of scissors in their basement and haphazardly cut off each other's hair. Realizing their parents would be upset, she told the kidnap story to a neighbor, who called police.

However, the police became skeptical when the girl's story changed after a couple of hours. She at first said the man had entered the house and confronted her; she later said she had run into him outside, and he followed her into the house, intent on stealing her hair.

We've seen these stories so much within the last few years. A 19 year old girl partying in Scotland cried rape after celebrating too hard at an Irish day parade. She felt like she couldn't tell her family she had been partying, so she sent her neighborhood and police into a frenzy looking for a "long black car." that she alledged she had been dragged into and raped. We've seen the fame hungry Heene family from Colorado claim that a helium filled balloon had their son in it. Their 6 year old son later admitted to Wolfe Blitzer that he had been hiding in his closet, as the hoax was for " a reality show." Instead of getting the reality show they wanted, the boy's father Richard got 90 days in jail. My dad sat on a jury here in Pittsburgh where a girl alledged her boyfriend had raped her, only to confess that the sex had been consentual shortly before the jury announced the verdict. My dad told me later that they were going to find him guilty.

I don't like giving these types of stories coverage, to be honest. But there are so many social media platforms, such as CNN, that label these as "must reads." For the life of me, I don't understand why a child feels that punishment would be so severe for consentual sex or cutting hair that they need to create outlandish stories instead. It damages reputations of people, sends families and their surrounding areas into a frenzy, and wastes the time of police. Homicide investigators have been pulled off cases to work these as well, and as I noted, some go all the way to trial. I often wonder about the environment that these adolescents and teens live in that they feel an elaborate hoax is easier to tell rather then the simple truth.


Is it any indcitment on the parenting or eniviroment these children live in that they feel they need to cry rape or kidnapper rather then admitting the truth?

What level of accountability should children such as the 10 year old from Germany be held to for lying about such serious allegations?


Any other thoughts on this?

 

[#hamler]

I question if things are right at home if these children are lying to an authority figure in order to keep their parents from knowing. I think everything depends in where they come from. I know I sure as hell wouldn't tell my abusive mother I had been out partying or that I cut my sister's hair off. Seems reasonabe. However, just not wanting to tell your parents something foolish you did is bullshit and a waste of the police force's time. The 10 year old kid can probably make a case that she didn't know any better but someone older definitely does and should be met with punishment. Totally unnecessary to make such a bullshit story up.

 

[Mustang Sally]

For the life of me, I don't understand why a child feels that punishment would be so severe for consentual sex or cutting hair that they need to create outlandish stories instead.

In today's world, children are exposed to behavior that demonstrates the technique of avoiding responsibility by thrusting blame as far from oneself as possible. They see people get away with murder by blaming the victim. They see people who use guns to shoot someone get off by blaming the gun manufacturer. They see people who smoked cigarettes for 40 years collect millions of dollars from cigarette companies because the companies "addicted" them to smoking rather than taking personal responsibility for their own actions.

Is it any wonder the kids you speak of invented a kidnapper to try and get themselves out of trouble? You ask why they think the punishment would be so severe for telling the truth.....but why suffer punishment at all if you see the chance to lie and blame someone else; even if the someone else doesn't exist.

Why not do it? These kids see it done all the time.

 

[¡Roján!]

I've been waiting for a while to post in the Cigar Lounge, on a topic I like. Glad this one came along as it's something I really feel strongly about it. All it is, is simple media influence. News about children being abducted, raped, even murdered is something we hear about CONSTANTLY on the news. It makes them look like something that occurs all the time, when in reality 90% of the cases are on the news. All the abductions are reported because they are money machines for the news corps and the parents want as many people as possible to know, to try help.
This child probably thought that abductions are something that occur all the time and is a great excuse to use.
''Yeah, I almost got abducted. Feel sorry for me and buy me a pony.''
Hell, I probably said crap like that all the time when I was younger and my parents never took me seriously and this neighbour did. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been concerned but, to call the police without a single thought. He was way too gullible.
The parents aren't to blame, at all. Although, I do wonder where they were when all this happened.
All this is, is just media propaganda.

 

[Nate DaMac]

I think this particular incident is a rather far cry from cases in which a girl screams rape after consensual sex. There's no real victim here, other than the wasted man hours from the Police having to waste their time. If there had been a specific person identified as the intruder who was facing charges over this bullshit then, yeah, I'd be pretty appalled. But to me, this is just funny. Can you imagine how embarrassing these kids' parents must be to have to deal with this? Hopefully the kids just get an apparently much needed ass whipping and they can all move on with their lives.

I know when I was a kid, I tried to lie my way out of situations whenever I fucked up. Hell, my brother and I cut each others hair off at one point and we got in hella trouble. I can't fault these kids from trying to avoid punishment, albeit a bit extreme.

 

[LSN80]

I think this particular incident is a rather far cry from cases in which a girl screams rape after consensual sex. There's no real victim here.

I agree, to an extent.The young girls who cry rape is far more appalling and flat out despicable in my eyes. The point I was trying to make through all of this is that kids make dumb mistakes, and the create outlandish stories as a result. While this turned out to be a victimless crime, it could have been different if the police had actually subdued a suspect based on the girl's description. I just feel its a sad state of affairs that we see people cry rape, or kidnapping, over such a silly ordeal of not wanting to get "in trouble".

Other than the wasted man hours from the Police having to waste their time. If there had been a specific person identified as the intruder who was facing charges over this bullshit then, yeah, I'd be pretty appalled.

But it easily could hve turned out that way. Thankfully, it didnt, but if the police hadn't caught her in a lie, whose to say they wouldn't still be looking for the kidnapper? Once someone lies about a scenario as this, they tend to stick to their story out of fear of being caught in it. The fact that she got caught in her lie is the only difference between her and a woman crying rape.

But to me, this is just funny. Can you imagine how embarrassing these kids' parents must be to have to deal with this? Hopefully the kids just get an apparently much needed ass whipping and they can all move on with their lives.

I think the parents were most likely pretty damn shaken up after this more then anything. I think the girl was most likely far more embarrassed then the parents after being caught. I feel bad for parents such as this, as many people such as the media even have questioned the parents skills regarding parenting that a child needs to feel like they have to hide such a simple action.

I know when I was a kid, I tried to lie my way out of situations whenever I fucked up. Hell, my brother and I cut each others hair off at one point and we got in hella trouble. I can't fault these kids from trying to avoid punishment, albeit a bit extreme.

Our society today has dictated that its okay to lie about things if the end of staying out of trouble justifies the means. It's everywhere, from their friends, to politicians, to those charged with crimes, to the social media. Much of what theyre teaching children once theyre able to understand is that lying is okay if it means avoiding punishment.

I was similar to you, Nate, growing up. My twin sister and I beat the hell out of each other in the woods on several occasions, and we always claimed we "tripped". Of course, when my sister made me bleed from the back of the head, and I broke her nose in retailiation(I was 9!), the gig was up. I think its human nature for us to do whatever's in our power to avoid facing consequences for our actions, especially as children. I do find fault in them for trying to avoid punishment, especially if it means innocent people are put on trial(such as the rapist in my dad's case). In the end of these cases, the means justify the end, which is where these adolescents and teenagers need to be held responsible.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The fact that the kids needed to make up a story like that shows how terrified they must be of their parents. Strict parenting only causes a child to grow up timid and afraid of their own shadow. The parents should approach the kids and tell them that it is always alright to tell the truth, within reason. The kids should then apologize to their neighbor and to the policemen for causing this scene. It's honestly the parents' fault though due to the fact that the kids would not have made the story up if they were comfortable with telling them the truth. The kids do deserve to be punished for lying, but I believe it is not entirely their fault.

 

[Cappie1020]

The fact that the kids needed to make up a story like that shows how terrified they must be of their parents. Strict parenting only causes a child to grow up timid and afraid of their own shadow. The parents should approach the kids and tell them that it is always alright to tell the truth, within reason. The kids should then apologize to their neighbor and to the policemen for causing this scene. It's honestly the parents' fault though due to the fact that the kids would not have made the story up if they were comfortable with telling them the truth. The kids do deserve to be punished for lying, but I believe it is not entirely their fault.

I really couldn't have said it better myself. Honestly it seems like now a day's
kids try anyway they can to stay out of trouble. Growing up as a kid I never would have imagined being able too come up with some kind of wild story, and maybe that's the problem. The parents have got too accept a little bit of blame that their kids would rather lie to them then too tell the truth. Honestly, it makes me kind of mad that kids are so afraid of their parents that they come up with a completely wild story instead of telling the truth. What's really sad is the fact that this won't be the last time it happens.

 

[Minnesota Connection]

For the ones who said its the parents fault... Yeah, you've either never had kids before or you are just plain blind.

Kids lie. They are going to lie. You cannot stop them from lying. So why when a child lies, do people find it so appalling and claim its the parents fault when its in every humans nature to lie. Especially in children!

Kids SHOULD be afraid of their parents. It's normal. You see all the kids talking back to their parents, you see them disrespecting teachers in school and if you want to blame parents for anything, it's because they aren't hard enough on their children. You should never harm your child, but your child needs to understand consequences.

If I were the parents of the child in the story, she'd be grounded. For a few week(s). Grounding means you don't leave your house, you don't get to watch TV and you don't get to see your friends. That's life and that is how a child should be raised; with consequence to their actions.