By Chris Williamson-
The Crown Prosecution has said it will not take action against a girl forced to have her ears pierced, after the matter was referred to them by police.
Two adult women featured in a video clip sitting on the floor holding the girl still and trying to console her as a member of staff pierced her ears. Another member of staff watched on.
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The girl who was visibly protesting was eventually forced to have her ears pierced, sparking anger among members of the public who felt it was inappropriate for any child to be forced to have their ears pierced.
The video clip went viral, sparking debate in many circles, with speculation mounting that the act of forcing a child in those circumstances was criminal.
However, the matter was not considered to be serious enough to warrant a criminal charge because an ear piercing does not constitute an assault of any sort, but issues of consent for such matters remains unresolved for many members of the public.
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Many people feel a child should not be forced to have an ear piercing, but under aged children are not considered to have much rights when it comes to fashion related matters like haircuts, or ear piercing.
The view of a child being physically forced to have their ears pierced does not sit well with a lot of people, but the Crown prosecution has concluded that no criminal offence was committed.
A petition was once made to ban the piercing of children under 10 years of age, bit it did not receive much attention from parliament.
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “This matter was investigated and a file prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service. They determined that it was not in the public interest to seek a prosecution.”
The original clip was caught on camera by a teenage girl who was shopping at Meadowhall on October 17, 2021.
She showed it to her mum, Lisha Stephanie, who then uploaded it to her personal Facebook page.
She claimed the video was “just a fraction” of the incident, which reportedly lasted for around 10 minutes.
“They wrestled her down to the floor from the chair and held her down while she begged and pleaded with them not to do it,” said Lisha.
“The child was petrified. There was an audience outside and inside the shop.”
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