‘Bad b*tch I am’: Teens filmed and taunted torture victims before balcony death

Two teen girls who posted videos to social media of a young man being tortured and robbed before he fell to his death have avoided jail time for their “despicable” offending.

Two teen girls have avoided jail time for their part in the torture and robbery of a man who died trying to escape from a high-rise balcony.

Two teenage girls who posted videos to social media of a young man being tortured and robbed before he fell to his death while trying to escape the brutal attack have avoided jail time for their “despicable” offending.

The girls filmed and posted 15 videos to social media in May 2020 depicting the horrific torture of 19-year-old Cian English who fell to his death from a Surfers Paradise balcony while trying to escape the attack.

One video showed a girl forcing Mr English to clean up his own blood before posting it to Snapchat describing herself as a “bad b****” and in another, the second girl taunts the victims, commenting “this is why you don’t steal from the boys”.

Family of Cian English leave the Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: Glenn Campbell/NCA NewsWire.

Mr English and a friend were robbed and tortured in the protracted ordeal in the early hours of May 23, 2020, by three men they met hours earlier – Jason Ryan Knowles, 25, Lachlan Paul Soper-Lagas, 21 and Hayden Paul Kratzmann, 23.

The two groups partied together in a hotel room until Kratzmann falsely accused Mr English and his friend of stealing drugs, going on to torture the pair and rob them before Mr English tragically fell to his death while trying to flee to safety.

Knowles, Soper-Lagas and Kratzmann were sentenced in September to various terms of imprisonment for Mr English’s manslaughter.

The two girls who recorded the attack and posted them to Snapchat were sentenced on charges of torture and robbery in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday.

They cannot be identified because they were juveniles both aged 16 at the time of the offending.

Crown Prosecutor Caroline Marco said the girls had continued to film even after Mr English had fallen and instead of calling Triple 0, they uploaded further footage to Snapchat before grabbing their belongings and fleeing the scene.

A woman (centre) who was under 18 at the time of the incident leaves Brisbane Supreme Court after sentencing. Picture: Glenn Campbell/NCA NewsWire.

Ms Marco said the teens had made 15 recordings ranging from seven to 59 seconds in duration, with five and a half minutes of footage captured during a 27 minute period.

Ms Marco said the first video was taken at 2.15am and it was evident the offending was already “well underway”.

In it, Knowles was shown forcing Mr English’s friend to undress and inspecting him for drugs.

When Mr English tried to calm the situation he was approached with a knife and threatened “do you want to get holes poked into you”.

In other videos, the two young victims are violently attacked and robbed by the three men.

In another video which showed Mr English’s satchel being ripped from his body and his friend being struck to the head, the two girls can be heard speaking.

“During that video recording (Girl A) asked (Girl B) ‘did you get that’ and (Girl B) responded ‘I didn’t get the oven bit’ and (Girl A) responded ‘the oven bit was ruthless’,” Ms Marco said.

“That exchange related to an assault on (the second victim) by Mr Kratzmann with the oven which evidently wasn’t covered by either girl with the footage which they were recording.”

A woman (centre) who was under 18 at the time of the incident leaves Brisbane Supreme Court after sentencing in the matter of the torture and armed robbery of Cian English before his death.

In another video, Kratzmann strikes Mr English before looking into the camera held by Girl A and saying: “this is what happens when you steal from me”.

Girl A is also heard commenting: “This is why you don’t steal from the boys”.

Ms Marco said in another video, Girl B is seen on the couch with Mr English.

“(Girl B) directed Mr English to clean up the blood from the floor and to scrub it with a tissue,” Ms Marco said.

“She threw a tissue at him and said ‘it is literally not clean, get all the blood off’.

“Mr English wiped the floor. (Girl B) superimposed over the video the following statement ‘the bad b**** I am making this sad c*** clean his own blood up’.”

In another video posted to social media, Kratzmann can be seen trying to steal the second victim’s phone from his pocket, threatening to stab him if he doesn’t hand it over.

Kratzmann and the two girls are then all heard counting down together to make him hand over the phone under the threat of stabbing.

“Mr Kratzmann then turned his sights to Mr English and tried to force him to hand over his wallet,” Ms Marco said.

When he refused, Kratzmann threatened him “do you want to get killed”, and struck him twice.”

“Mr English held onto Mr Kratzmann’s hand and pulled himself up from the couch and ran to the balcony where he climbed over and fell as he attempted to descend to his balcony below,” Ms Marco said.

“(Girl A) followed onto the balcony shortly after and made a recording of her observations from the balcony,” Ms Marco said.

“She also filmed some apparent blood staining on the couch.

(Girl B) filmed herself or someone else covering up some apparent bloodstain on the couch with a pillow.”

Ms Marco said both girls knew Mr English was on the ground critically injured from the fall.

“They responded however with self-interest and packed their belongings and fled the unit,” she said.

Ms Marco said both girls were liable as parties to the torture and armed robbery offences.

“(Their) actions extended beyond passive assistance to acts of intimidation and belittling the victims,” she said.

“(The defendants) did not remove themselves from the offending but rather they filmed parts of it which they shared on social media which was reprehensible.

“That conduct has caused the family members of Mr English particular anguish knowing the indignity of his final moments were publicly available and they fear the content might continue to be accessible.”

“As horrible as your behaviour on the night was and how despicable your conduct immediately after the offence was, I don’t consider a custodial sentence is required by way of community protection,” Justice Peter Applegarth said.

“I’m conscious that you’re remorseful and your role in these events has had consequences for you.”

Both women were sentenced to two years’ probation and convictions were not recorded.

The court heard both defendants, who are now adults, suffered prejudicial upbringings, were remorseful for their actions and each held part time employment.