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A prankster called ‘the mad pricker’ who pretended to inject strangers with syringes has been jailed.
Ilan M, who goes by Amine Mojito online, uploaded videos to TikTok which appeared to show him jabbing unsuspecting passersby in Paris.
The viral stunt came just days before a wave of ‘syringe attacks’ struck France’s countrywide Fête de la Musique street festival in June.
Prosecutors accused the wannabe influencer of fueling public anxiety over the assaults sweeping the country, according to Libération.
Ilan M, 27, uploaded clips of him tiptoeing up to strangers and pretending to inject them with a capped syringe, with the videos titled ‘the mad pricker’.
Despite the cover, one victim can be seen jumping around in shock and grabbing his arm.
The stunts sparked anger online, with prosecutors calling the social media user a ‘public menace’.
They said he ‘knowingly aggravated public outrage in an otherwise volatile context’.
Ilan M said his videos were all an attempt to revive his social media career and promote a new fitness programme.
He was trying to make a comeback as an influencer after a brief career as a teenager.
According to Libération, he told the court: ‘I had the very bad idea of doing these pranks by imitating what I saw on the Internet, in Spain [and] in Portugal.
‘I didn’t think it could hurt people. That was my mistake, I didn’t think about others, I thought about myself.’
The TikToker was the subject of a complaint filed by a fifty-year-old man, who was given seven days off work due to traumatic shock after the fake injection.
Ilan M claimed that while he would tell his victims it was a joke after each stunt, he couldn’t tell that to the complainant because he ran off, Le Parisien reports.
Prosecutors had asked for 15 months in prison under electronic monitoring, but he was ultimately handed a 12-month jail sentence, of which six will be served behind bars.
The 27-year-old was also slapped with a 1,500 euro (£1,300) fine and was banned from owning or carrying a weapon for three years.
His defence lawyer welcomed a decision that ‘brings the debate back into perspective after the initial media frenzy.’
She continued: ‘On the other hand, this case highlights the limitations of current criminal procedure, in the face of new forms of crime committed in the digital age.’
Days after Ilan M’s stunt, at least 145 people were reportedly injected or stabbed with syringes at the nationwide Fête de la Musique music festival.
At least 13 syringe stabbings were reported in Paris alone, where a number of victims, including two teenagers, reported feeling unwell.
The ‘syringe assaults’ were first reported at the Fête de la Musique event in Metz, eastern France.
Mayor Grosdidier said on Facebook that the attacks follow calls on social media for women to be injected with syringes at music festivals in France.
One father spoke of his daughter’s fear of being injected after coming across posts about it online.
The unnamed dad told La Republicain Lorrain: ‘I wanted to take my wife and children to the Fête de la Musique in Metz. My 13-year-old daughter told me she didn’t want to go because of the messages she saw on TikTok. So we stayed home…’
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