A judge has told TikTok prankster Mizzy his actions were “not funny” and has jailed him for 18 weeks for breaching a court order which forbade him from sharing videos of people without their consent.
In one of the videos, Mizzy said to the camera, “The UK law is a joke.”
District Judge Matthew Bone sentenced him at Stratford Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
The judge said Mizzy—whose real name is Bacari-Bronze O’Garro—was motivated by a “desire to be famous.”
The teenager from Hackney gained notoriety earlier this year after videos of him pranking people went viral on TikTok.
In one of the videos, on May 15, 2023, he entered a private home, where a family with children lived.
Last month, he was found guilty of two counts of breaching a court order prohibiting him from sharing videos of people without their consent.
O’Garro’s trial heard he began sharing videos of people without their consent on the same day the criminal behaviour order was passed, on May 24, 2023.
The court was shown footage, shared on O’Garro’s Twitter account on May 24, featuring him in Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, after he appeared as a guest on Piers Morgan’s TalkTV show.
Judge Bone sentenced him to 18 weeks’ detention in a young offenders’ institution.
O'Garro has been banned from using social media after he was found to have “deliberately flouted” a court order prohibiting him from sharing videos of people without their consent “within hours” of it being passed.
Actions Motivated by Desire for ‘Designer Clothes From Sponsors’
Judge Bone said O’Garro’s actions had been motivated by a desire to, “receive money and designer clothes from sponsors.”The judge told him: “Your further offending was motivated by your desire to be famous. Your actions caused innocent members of the public significant harm and distress.”
“You claimed on national television the law was weak. Put bluntly, your pranks are not funny,” he added.
O’Garro also shared videos on his Snapchat account, including one in which he grabbed hold of a schoolboy by his uniform and another in which he appeared to be fighting a man with dwarfism.
O’Garro claimed both were hoax videos made with the individuals’ prior agreement.
‘Lack of Maturity’
Paul Lennon, defending, said O'Garro had shown a “lack of maturity.”In his mitigation speech, Mr. Lennon said O'Garro had embarked on a creative media production course at college and had just started a job as a waiter in a restaurant.
“He is very academic and is predicted to achieve a distinction. He is making attempts to better himself,” claimed Mr. Lennon.
Alongside the custodial sentence, Judge Bone “strengthened” the social media ban and ruled O'Garro could not share any videos, act with others to share videos or contribute to other people’s social media accounts for two years.
He was also ordered not to trespass on private property, or enter the E12 postcode area of London.
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Yasmin Lalani, said described it as a “fitting sentence” but said she hoped O'Garro got some help.
She said: “It is a loud and clear message that nobody is above the law and that you have got to be held accountable. The right result has come through, more for the public as well, because I think the community were upset with the lack of respect for the law of the country and the distress and harassment he was causing, it was a blatant disregard for the harassment and distress for the community.”
It is not clear who were the TikTok sponsors who provided O'Garro with designer clothes.
