Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/08/10/man_beaten_to_death/

Man beaten to death for using mobile phone in pub

Cellphone rage claims first fatality

By Linda Harrison

Posted in On-Prem, 10th August 1999 12:06 GMT

A German man was battered to death with a beer bottle on Saturday after his mobile phone rang repeatedly, annoying bystanders in a Hamburg beer garden. In what is thought to be Germany's first case of mobile phone rage, the victim ignored requests to switch off his phone. His phone played a melody when it rang, reports said. "It was really loud and was one of those terrible melodies too," one witness told police. His constant jabbering angered the other punters so much that they demanded he turn off the offending machine. The man refused. A fight ensued in which the man was struck repeatedly over the head with a beer bottle. He managed to run off and escape, but later collapsed and died outside the pub. The attacker later turned himself in to police, but has not yet been charged. ® See also First they come for you Computers Kill Brits Attack of the Killer Laptops emails damage your health Monitor health risk is rubbish Killer monitors - the facts IT equipment is bad for your health Then they cripple you.. and give you cancer, too Kids, cancer and mobile phones Mobile phones are a pain in the neck ...and links to five more brain maim stories Get off your sick bed, it's time to fight back Woman hacks into husband's PC - literally Half of users attack their PCs Users smash up PCs in outbreaks of networkrage But whatever you do, don't listen to Compaq -- it's on the computer's side, I'm telling you. Turn away before it's too late... Hate your PC? Tell Compaq all about it