The mother of a 15-year-old autistic boy has spoken out after her son was lured to a rural Victorian train station and brutally assaulted by a group of teenagers in a fake meet-up scheme.
The boy, who also has epilepsy, had been elated when he received a Snapchat message from two girls who appeared to want friendship, his mother told news.com.au. They arranged to meet at a bus stop near the Stawell train station, about 237km northwest of Melbourne, at 5.45pm on October 5.
Instead of friendly faces, the boy from Ararat was met by three violent teenagers who taunted him, threw punches, and shoved him to the ground. Graphic footage captures one teenager holding the boy down and punching the side of his head while two others kicked at his face.
A group of girls watched on as the attack unfolded. When one girl screamed, “Not the head,” the gang kicked the boy in the stomach instead. The attackers briefly stopped, but the victim’s relief was short-lived as he suffered another blow to the face.
The teenager filming then demanded the victim hand over his runners.
“Take your shoes off right now … take your f–king shoes off,” he said.
Confused, the victim asked, “What size shoe are you?” before suffering another blow to the face.
After the boy managed to remove his shoes, the teenager behind the camera thanked him before telling him to “get the f–k out of here.” In a desperate bid to understand the ambush, the boy asked one of them, “Who are you? I don’t know you,” prompting a final kick to the face.
The entire ordeal lasted just over a minute.
While the attack unfolded, the boy’s mother believed her son was simply enjoying an afternoon out with friends. She only discovered the horrifying truth when she received a phone call from her son using a paramedic’s 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.
“But I thought because he was going to catch up with friends and make friends, he’d be okay.”
The boy, whose identity has been withheld for his safety, sustained soft tissue damage as well as potential head injuries.
“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.
“I’m just lucky to have him alive … he’s having nightmares.”
As the boy recovers at home, he has told his mother he is too scared to leave the house. His family is struggling to understand why the group targeted their “loving and caring” son.
“It makes me feel sick, it makes me feel unsafe … no kid should go through what my son went through,” the boy’s mum said.
“I just want to know why they did it.”
Police charged three boys — one 14-year-old and two 15-year-olds — on Tuesday afternoon. Detectives from the Northern Grampians Crime Investigation Unit executed four search warrants in the area and arrested the 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. A fourth boy who was not present at a warrant will be interviewed.
Superintendent Dan Davidson addressed community concern about the incident.
“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.”
Detectives are continuing to investigate the matter and further arrests are expected. Additional patrols will also be deployed to the Stawell area to deter and detect anti-social behaviour.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or file a confidential report online.