The Devil made me do it!
A devout Christian who said an accident at work boosted his libido and wrecked his marriage as he turned to prostitutes and pornography was awarded more than 3 million pounds ($5.89 million) in damages Tuesday.
Stephen Tame, 29, from Suffolk, suffered severe head injuries in a fall, transforming him from a loyal newlywed into a “disinhibited” character who had two affairs.
Awarding him 3.1 million pounds in compensation at London’s High Court, Judge Michael Harris said: “His life and the life of his young wife were shattered.”
Wonder if his wife will have to sue him, now, to get her share?
I was involved with a criminal case in which the defendant had sex on videotape with various children of friends and family. He blamed the whole ordeal on an automobile accident he suffered through. Even his own expert admitted on the stand that automobile accidents do not cause pedophilia.
Needless to say he was convicted and will never see the light of day again.
#1 SN
Let me guess he said a head injury caused him mental defect or he said he suffered from post tramatic stress disorder?
#2. Something like that. He didn’t testify, defendants rarely testify. But his expert’s argument was basically that the accident lessoned his inhibitions. Which is another way of saying that the guy had inclinations for pedophilia prior to the accident. Not much help, obviously.
#3
Public defender? LOL
I would have loved to see the science behind that one.
#4 “Public defender? LOL”
Nope, he had a very capable high priced well paid attorney. But when your client video tapes himself diddling children, there’s not much else you can do about it.
The prosecutor bringing the case was working on his PhD in Psychiatry at the time. He ripped the “expert” to shreds.
Here’s the funny part about the whole story. (If there can be a funny part about children being violated.) He kept the video tapes in a locked safe. The safe was stolen. The criminals who stole it were so outraged by the contents of the tapes they turned themselves and the tapes in. There’s a limit to honor among thieves.
I have no way of knowing what this man’s medical condition is. Furthermore, whatever it is, it is a moot point whether he should get a $6 million payout. However, it’s somewhat flippant to jeer at this. Head injuries, tumors, and the like can have funny effects on people’s behavior. There’s a famous textbook case of a railway worker who supposedly recovered very well from the effects of an acident that caused a steel pipe to be driven into his head. What wasn’t very well recorded and only came to light later was that he underwent a severe personality change.
Loss of inhibitions, owing to some trauma or to organic causes, is quite well-known. There have been well-attested cases of strait-laced grandmothers who, after, for example, developing a tumor on the brain, suddenly start to talk in the most filthy way – and in such a case there is no interest (in the form of legal payouts) involved. Oliver Sacks has discussed such cases in his books before:
http://www.oliversacks.com/writing.htm
As for the science, try Googling:
inhibition frontal lobes
#5 SN
I think the fact he kept the video tapes in a locked safe it could be argued that he knew the difference between right and wrong.
#7. Good call. That was one of many arguments made by the prosecutor in his closing argument.
I will never understand why these sickos go out of their way to keep (and even make) evidence that can send them to prison. Serial killers do it as well, as do other types. I get the whole ‘reliving it’ thing, but all they are doing is guaranteeing a conviction (which is fine with me).Way to go idiot.
As for the 3 million pound payout, what were they thinking? My girlfriend wouldn’t buy that excuse if I was with a hooker.
“I will never understand why these sickos go out of their way to keep (and even make) evidence that can send them to prison.”
Maybe because deep down, on a subconsciousness level, they really want to get caught.
Just kidding… they’re just idiots.
9,
But if she got half your 3million POUND payout (almost 6 trillion US – as a Canadian, it feels good to make that joke) would she mind if you were with a hooker?
#10
No they are just mentally ill. Not legally but still they have mental issues that should be treated. There are probably a dozen different physiological reason they may document their activities. It really is a sickness. Not that I feel pity for them but if we could understand it better we might be able to prevent it. Instead we just lock them up and say that is where you sickoos belong. Which, I think, leads to more cases where it could have been prevented in the first place.
It would go to my next of kin, I wouldn’t be alive to see it.
and 3 million pounds is $5,906,093.0013 US
a pound is worth $1.9687 according to Yahoo
you are off a few zeros
12. How do you treat a serial killer?
Sounds to me that this man saw John Waters’ movie “A dirty shame.”
Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
by neurologist Antonio R. Damasio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Damasio
“Damasio explores in depth the unusual case of Phineas Gage, a man whose ability to feel emotion was damaged after an accident destroyed part of his brain. Specifically, he demonstrates that, while Gage’s intelligence remained intact after the accident, his ability to make rational decisions and to reason became severely handicapped because his emotions could no longer be engaged in the process.
Damasio uses this case, and refers to other brain damage cases, to develop his thesis on emotion and its relationship to human activity. He argues that first, rationality stems from our emotions, and second, that our emotions stem from our bodily senses. The state of the mind, or feeling, is merely a reflection of the state of the body, and feeling is an indispensable ingredient of rational thought.”
I have read of many such cases(not the horniness, but the personality changes) of accident victims. It’s a field that maybe needs a lot more research and not by lawyers.
When I first read of this case a couple weeks ago, I just got the feeling that this was a set up for money. While he deserves compensation for the accident, I am not buying the sex fiend part.
Some guys get all the luck. I got a bang on the head and all I had was a broken nose and no luck with the ladies
Stephen Tame… He sounds bloody wild to me…
I notice the pic changed
it did look a bit gay…..but hey….whatever 🙂
#23
A little bit gay?! I don’t dare to think where Eideard found it… 😉
#12, j, I agree.
Often I have wondered how society will look at how we handle such cases today come the next century. I remember reading that around 1810, in England, there were something like 190 crimes that qualified for capitol punishment. They included stealing a full loaf of bread or calling the King or even a soldier a derogatory name.
When Andrea Yates was sentenced to death for the disease of post-partum depression, a lot of jaws dropped. How could something so well recognized in the mental health field be ignored in the legal field.
Hopefully as our knowledge of mental health and how the brain works grows, we will soon find better solutions then what we have now. Punishment can’t be the answer to a mental health problem.
Well, ya gotta hand it to him. Looks like the UK is getting just as silly with their awards as the US. Kinda like when that 72 year old woman burned her crotch on the hot coffee from MickeyDee’s, she got something like 5 million. Hell, I didn’t even know there was anything worth 5 million in a 72 year old womans crotch!
#26, RevJackson
Maybe you could tell us a bit more about that one. I haven’t heard of any 72 yr old being burned by hot coffee on the crotch.
I did hear of an 80 yr old who was severely scalded, was hospitalized with third degree burns, and required skin grafts because McDonald’s superheated their coffee to 180+ degrees. She was awarded something like 1.8 million basically because the McDonald’s exec said that that was the way McDonald’s made their coffee and wasn’t going to change. Regular coffee is brewed around 140 to 150.
But then someone who throws something out there they are totally ignorant about only shows their ignorance to the rest of the world.