Sickening footage has emerged of a gang of young thugs bashing and stealing shoes from a 15-year-old boy with special needs, after he was lured to a rural train station under the guise of a friendly catch-up.
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he → emerge → up
The boy, who has autism and epilepsy, was elated when he received a Snapchat message from two girls wanting to be friends.
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he → have → girls
They arranged to meet at a bus stop near a train station in the regional Victorian town of Stawell, about 237km northwest of Melbourne, at 5.45pm on October 5.
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They → arrange → October
But instead of two friendly faces, the boy from Ararat was met by three violent teenagers.
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boy → meet → teenagers
Graphic footage captures three boys taunting the victim as he tries to walk away, before they throw punches and shove him to the ground.
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they → capture → ground
One of the teenagers holds the boy down, punching the side of his head, while two other alleged offenders kick at his face.
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offenders → hold → face
A group of girls watch on as the disgusting act unfolds.
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act → watch → girls
When one of the girls is heard screaming, “Not the head,” the gang kicks the boy in the stomach.
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gang → hear → stomach
The attackers briefly stop, but the victim’s relief is short-lived as he suffers another blow to the face.
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he → stop → face
The teenager filming the attack then demands the victim hand over his runners.
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victim → film → runners
“Take your shoes off right now … take your f**king shoes off,” he says.
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he → take → shoes
Confused, the victim asks, “What size shoe are you?” before suffering another blow to the face.
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you → ask → face
The boy manages to remove his shoes.
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boy → manage → shoes
Remarkably, the teenager behind the camera thanks him before telling him to “get the f**k out of here.”
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teenager → thank → f**k
In a desperate bid to understand the ambush, the boy asks one of them, “Who are you?
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you → understand → them
I don’t know you,” prompting a final kick to the face.
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I → know → face
The ordeal lasted just over a minute, stealing any sense of safety the boy had left in going out on his own.
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boy → last → own
While the attack unfolded, the boy’s mother thought her son was enjoying an afternoon out with friends.
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son → unfold → friends
She only discovered the horrifying truth when she received a phone call from her son using a paramedic’s phone.
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she → discover → phone
“I wrap my kids up in cotton wool, I don’t really like them going anywhere,” the boy’s mum told news.com.au.
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mum → wrap → news.com.au
“But I thought because he was going to catch up with friends and make friends, he’d be okay.”
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he → think → friends
The boy, whose identity has been withheld for his safety, sustained soft tissue damage as well as potential head injuries.
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identity → withhold → damage
“We are getting another scan because he may have bleeding on the brain … but we have to wait for the swelling to go down and for the bruises to come out a bit,” his mum said.
uncertain
mum → get → brain
“I’m just lucky to have him alive … he’s having nightmares.”
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he → ’m → nightmares
As the boy recovers at home, he has told his mum he is too scared to leave the house.
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he → recover → house
His family is also struggling to come to terms with why the group of teenagers targeted their “loving and caring” son.
“It makes me feel sick, it makes me feel unsafe …
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me → struggle → son
no kid should go through what my son went through,” the boy’s mum said.
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mum → go → what
“I just want to know why they did it.”
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they → want → it
Police charged the three boys – one 14-year-old and two 15-year-olds – involved in the incident on Tuesday afternoon.
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Police → charge → afternoon
Detectives from the Northern Grampians Crime Investigation Unit executed four search warrants in the Northern Grampians area and arrested the boys.
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Detectives → execute → boys
All three have been charged with affray, robbery, recklessly cause injury and theft and will appear before a children’s court at a later date.
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three → charge → date
A fourth boy who was not present at a warrant will be interviewed.
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who → interview → warrant
Superintendent Dan Davidson said he completely understands the concern the incident had caused in the Stawell community.
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incident → say → community
“Since last Monday, local uniform police and detectives have been working tirelessly to identify those involved and hold them to account, and this important work will continue,” he said.
“There is never any excuse for violence in our community, and we will not accept it in any form.
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we → work → form
“Detectives are continuing to investigate the matter and while we are treating it as an isolated incident, additional patrols will take place across Stawell to ensure our community not only is safe but feels safe.”
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community → continue → Stawell
Detectives are continuing to investigate the matter and further arrests are expected.
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arrests → continue → matter
Additional patrols will also be deployed to the Stawell area to deter and detect anti-social behaviour.
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patrols → deploy → behaviour
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or file a confidential report online at http://www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
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Anyone → urge → http://www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
The Aporia
