Ched Evans: A Sheffield United Pariah, Child Killers And Guns
CHED Evans: a look at the footballer who happens to be a convicted rapist (surely rapist who happens to be a convicted footballer – ed) in the media.
For those readers who don’t dislike Ched Evans for being a sex criminal, the Sun has news:
It’s Ched and the Shed:
A PAL of soccer rapist Ched Evans told last night how the star shot him with an air rifle — then offered him £11,000 to hush it up. Andrew Barnes, 25, was left in agony after Evans — behind a garage shed — blasted his thigh in an idiotic prank.
Yep. It’s a story about an idiotic prank. Send the man down.
“He was quite far away when he fired. Had he moved the gun by millimetres, it could have hit my chest and killed me. He might have faced a manslaughter charge, let alone rape.”
Under UK law anyone over 18 can buy an air rifle if it delivers less than 16.2 Joules of energy. And air guns can kill. Gun Control Network records the deaths and incidents.
Children should not see air guns as toys:
Rhys Johnson:
Ten year old Rees was killed by a 12 year old child after being shot with an air weapon pellet while playing with a friend near his home in Llansamlet, Swansea on 27th September 2009.
Air guns are weapons:
The Bolton News, 20 December 2013:
A man has been left blind in one eye after he was shot with a suspected airgun at his home in Leigh, Greater Manchester. He was shot through the spy hole in his front door after he heard his pet dog barking and looked to see who was outside. He was taken to hospital where the pellet was removed and he was discharged, but he has not yet regained vision in his damaged eye.
An eight-year-old boy threatened a 51-year-old postman and shot him in between the eyes with an air rifle while he was delivering on a street in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The boy told the victim, “I’m going to shoot you” before firing the airgun, leaving the victim with a lump on his forehead. The postal worker was able to retreat to his van and call the police, but the boy was not arrested since he was below the age of criminal responsibility.
Most victims are animals:
Droitwich Standard, 30 March 2012:
A cat was shot and killed with an airgun in Droitwich, Worcestershire. A pellet was reportedly lodged in her stomach for a day before she collapsed and died.
Your Local Guardian, 11 November 2013:
Three boys aged 10 and 11 have been handed a Youth Conditional Caution and been ordered to work at an animal shelter or charity, receive education on the dangers of firearms, and attend sessions on the consequences of crime for using an air weapon to shoot 64 doves in a dovecote in Bookham, Surrey. They killed 50 of the birds, injured nine others so severely that they later died and left only five alive. The founder of the Wildlife Aid Foundation, which treated the doves, said, “I think the kids or parents should be made to pay… The parents are at fault and nothing much is going to happen to them. They let the kids go out with the gun.”
Saddists, violent idiots and children can misuse airguns. In 2013, Russell Fairchild was jailed for three years after shooting his friend 24-year-old Christopher Humpreys in the head with an air rifle.
So. Mr Barnes has a point that being shot by ain airgun pellet can be fatal. Although we can find no record of death caused by a pellet hitting an adult victim’s chest.
The Sun adds:
Evans and pal Clayton McDonald — cleared in the rape trial — had been lodging at Andrew’s parents’ home in Stretford, Gtr Manchester…
Andrew launched legal action shortly afterwards. He also told cops, who quizzed Evans and McDonald but brought no charges.
So. Evans was not arrested. And this incident seems to have happened a long time ago.
McDonald was a trainee at Machester City from 01 Jul, 08 to 01 Aug. Ched Evans was a Manchester City player from 10.01 Jul, 07 to 24 Jul, 09. It’s fair to assume this incident happened five or six years ago, when Evans was 19 or 20.
And know that:
Andrew agreed a £10,000 payout from him [Evans] for injuries and legal costs.
Evans is a lowlife, a convicted rapist, but dragging up old incidents does nothing for the woman he raped.
The question, of course, is not what Evans is like or if his morals are sound, but if he should play football again. Anorak belives he should. We find the entire question of a man’s right to work wrong. Justice should not be about revenge. And the talk about his being a role model or a hero is utter rot. He kicks a ball. He doesn’t stand for public office. He’s not selfless and brave.
Others disagree. The Sheffield Star opines:
STAR EDITOR’S OPINION: No way back to Sheffield United for rapist Ched Evans
James Mitchinson writes:
Just for one moment think of his victim….
A woman who is still being shunted around the country… forced to leave her family behind in order to remain out of the clutches of yet more people who want to hurl abuse at her. She has been forced to change her identity on more than one occasion because some have sought to compound her misery by revealing her name…
She has, in effect, been criminalised. The lot she now has is akin to that of child killers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson…
He, meanwhile, is pictured in the national press scooping up designer clothes from high-end high street stores, arm in arm with the woman he ‘cheated on’ Natasha Massey.
And:
…if Sheffield United sign a convicted rapist.. It will be sending a message out to its entire fanbase, and indeed the wider population, that its superstars can commit heinous crimes, and it won’t join in with the condemnation… I do believe someone should employ him somewhere, in football or otherwise, but I think he has hurt United too much for them to allow him to return.
So. It’s a local matter. Evans must move on. He let Sheffield United down. His challenge is to find a club to hire him. The best place, surely, would be Sheffield Wednesday, United’s rivals. Then everyone could hate him…
Posted: 23rd, October 2014 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
