back to article Nintendo DSi sends child abuser to the slammer

A paedophile has been jailed after his victim used her Nintendo DSi to covertly photograph his assault. John Fisher, 46, confessed to his crime after being arrested by police and shown the images taken by the girl, who is too young to name. She used her handheld games console to snap a picture of the paedophile's hand groping …

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  1. Ryan 7

    My 3DS makes a sound when it takes a picture,

    Even if you have the system on mute. Is the DSi different?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My 3DS makes a sound when it takes a picture,

      Would an intellectually challenged 46 year old know that?

      Would anyone without a 3DS know that?

      1. veti Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: My 3DS makes a sound when it takes a picture,

        Well yes, they would when they heard it.

        It's a distinctive noise something between a click and a flap, very much like a camera lens shutter.

  2. David Webb

    No physical harm? What about the mental harm? Shoot the bloody defence lawyers please, in front of their family (can you say that now after Clarkson?)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Agreed. And the mental trauma left unchecked will only allow it to grow

      After 30 years I still feel it as strongly as at the time

    2. Velv

      Never mind "after Clarkson", you can say it at all, or Tweet it, or post it on Facebook or on a forum.

      Oh, wait....., you just did.

    3. Jim 48

      Looks like we have at least three defense lawyers on the site.

      1. Jim 48
        Headmaster

        dammit; "defence"

  3. min

    well done..

    ..little girl. excellent presence of mind. I can't imagine just how many episodes like this go unrecorded simply because the level of assault may be deemed not serious enough to investigate without good proof. I know of a few occasions of when I was young and a certain teacher at my school seemed to have a reputation for suchness. It is doubtless (in my mind) that today this kind of person would be caught out pretty rapidly.

    what wherewithal from that girl. well done!

  4. Tom 38

    ""Fisher, from Lowestoft, Suffolk""

    ""They characterised Fisher as "borderline learning disabled"""

    Isn't the latter implied by the former?

    (NB: I'm from Suffolk, although not from anywhere near Lowestoft)

  5. paulej72

    Not finished yet?

    Now will they go and arrest the girl for having taken child pornography pictures? Or how about and ASBO?

  6. Graham Bartlett
    FAIL

    Parenting fail

    If you RTFA, you'll notice that this is the second time it happened. The first time it happened, she told her mum (as you should), and her family did nothing about it.

    It's not unknown for kids to fall apart if their family won't back them up on something like htis. So good on the girl for having the smarts and mental resilience to get the photo and then say "OK mum, laugh this one off you bitch".

    1. Leona A
      Unhappy

      Re: Parenting fail

      Sadly I know of a case similar to this, where the girl told her parents about her Grandad abusing her and they refused to believe her, and only after he did the same thing to her sister did anyone listen, and still one parent refused to believe it, now naive do some people have to be FFS!

      Surprised he was allowed Defence Lawyers, that makes me sick, the picture should be enough, you can't defend against that, and saying he had a learning disability is no excuse for that kind of action, 3.5 years is no where near enough and what are they going to do upon his release, any rehabilitation? Probably not, just let loose to do it to some other poor soul.

      Think Clarkson had the right idea! Bring back capital punishment!

      1. NumptyScrub

        Re: Parenting fail

        quote: "Surprised he was allowed Defence Lawyers, that makes me sick"

        I understand the revulsion you are feeling for this obviously disturbed individual, however we still pay token lip-service to "innocent until proven guilty" here in the UK. I assume you did not intend to suggest that an innocent man should be denied representation in a court of law? Using those criteria, a few photoshopped images of anyone would be enough to get them convicted, since they would not be able to employ any experts to represent them, and refute the photographs as being tampered with :)

        Also from the Times article: "Fisher who is married with a daughter and grandchildren at first denied assaulting the girl. But he admitted it when police confronted with the photograph. Detectives were able to prove the image was of him as it showed features of his hand and items of his clothing even though it did not reveal his face. " (emphasis mine)

        So I would argue that the picture on its own should not really be considered enough, given that it was only a hand and some clothing. His confession is what really sealed the conviction in this case..

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Parenting fail

        Not wishing to comment on the merits of this case, you'd be surprised how many students threaten to call social services on teachers because they have been disciplined in some way, knowing a mere accusation can end a career.

        And no, a digital photo does not stand on its own, nor should it.

    2. Jemma

      Re: Parenting fail

      Sounds familiar, my ex who died september '08 from secondary cervical cancer - caused by a grandparent abusing her was in the same situation. Ironically she kinda consented to what happened to protect her sister. Hearing that was about the time I gave up on there being such a thing as any kind of God.

      Her family, other than her sister, wouldn't and wont countenance it ever happened. Mind you these are the same people that had my ex's sister committed after she emotionally fell apart...

      Families are wonderful things, I think there should be a written exam before some people are allowed to breed.

      Kudos to the DSi girl for coming up with a good idea - as to a shutter sound she probably knew enough to disable that aforethought - we dont give kids enough credit in this country.

      As to the 'perp - dont ya just love 'care in the community' *sigh*

  7. hi_robb

    Hmm

    He got his up and commance, his

    Fisher Price..

  8. Old Handle
    Thumb Up

    Irony

    I seem to recall there was a bit of alarm raised about kids having this sort of device and how parents might not be aware that they had both internet connectivity and cameras. This combination was apparently regarded virtual welcome mat for sexual predators.

    The irony would have been perfect, had she also used the DSi to report the assault via email or something, but oh well.

    Thumbs up for that quick-thinking girl.

  9. Nights_are_Long
    Thumb Up

    Good on that girl!

  10. T J
    Thumb Up

    Police Assaults

    Next step is people to film the Police assaulting them.

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