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Man Jailed for Encouraging 3-Year-Old to Smoke

Dumb joke in UK earns him 18 months

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 15, 2009 12:41 PM CDT

(Newser) – A UK man received 18 months in prison today for handing a 3-year-old girl a lit cigarette and encouraging her to smoke it—and inhale. He then asked a 14-year-old girl to record the event with her camera phone. In the video, the 31-year-old man can be heard laughing, “believing it to be a bit of a joke,” according to his defense attorney. “Clearly it’s not funny.”

One 16-year-old said they’d all thought it was funny at first, notes the Guardian. “She was inhaling and everything. It looked like she had smoked before. Graeme didn't tell her what to do. She just knew,” she testified. When the girl finished, she put it out in the ashtray and asked for another. "He said, ‘You’ve had enough’ and she started to cry, so he gave her another one.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

A UK man thought it would be funny to make a toddler light up. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

A judge didn't think letting a 3-year-old smoke was very funny. (Shutterstock)

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I expect you realise now this was not funny at all. This sort of conduct could be very damaging to a child's health. You have completely disregarded her safety. - Judge David Wood

The essence of the offence is that he encouraged this child to smoke. He admitted giving a child a cigarette. He said he knew it was wrong and knew he shouldn't have done it. - Tony Glover, prosecutor

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Man Jailed for Encouraging 3-Year-Old to Smoke