Abuse on the Internet
“I have your face and naked pictures. Tonight you will be my toy”
Offline, Alexander McCartney was an unremarkable computer science student. The Brit blackmailed and abused little girls all over the world online – around the clock.
Editor’s note: This text contains descriptions of sexual assault and suicide, which can have a retraumatizing effect on those affected.
On May 11, 2018, a 911 call was received by Preston County, West Virginia EMS. A nine-year-old child was on the line; he was beside himself and could hardly understand himself. The girl called from her big sister’s room, who was lying on the floor seriously injured. Cimarron Thomas had shot himself in the head with her father’s pistol. She died of her injuries on the way to the hospital. Cimarron was twelve years old.
For the Thomas family, who wondered every day why the previously cheerful, active girl had taken her own life, her death would have even further consequences. The Army veteran could no longer live with the guilt of not hiding his gun better from the children. He died without knowing that the real person responsible for his daughter’s death was over 5,000 kilometers away in the Northern Irish province.
There are acts whose abysmal horror only unfolds gradually, like a huge, complex puzzle whose pieces have to be assigned and fitted together before they form the overall picture of horror. Sometimes it takes years before this image becomes visible. One such case is that of Northern Irishman Alexander McCartney.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
