Girls lure boy to beating

The Dominion Post — 22 August 2008

A 15-year-old boy was beaten unconscious then left at the edge of a train station platform in an attack involving pupils from his school. The boy was admitted to Hutt Hospital after the beating on Monday afternoon. He was recovering at home yesterday, after having suffered concussion, a head gash, two black eyes and severe bruising and grazes to his face, arms, legs and hands. He will be off school for two weeks and has had a CAT scan to check for brain injuries.

Two year 9 girls are believed to have lured the boy from their college to a Lower Hutt train station to speak to one of their boyfriends—a 17-year-old who had been removed from the school earlier this year. The boy's father said his son was attacked by the older youth about 3 p.m., kicked, punched and stomped, then "left for dead" unconscious in a pool of blood centimetres from the platform edge. Passers-by alerted authorities.

Police were still hunting for the attacker last night. The beaten boy's father said: "He had bleeding coming from his ear." The police basically told me he had a shoe print on his face. It's disgusting. I want [the attacker] done. I want him charged."

The boy told The Dominion Post he did not know why he was attacked. "This big boy was there and he wanted to talk to me. He didn't say nothing, he just grabbed me from behind. He looked like he'd seen a ghost and then he pushed me on to the ground and started kicking. What he did to me was cruel and I hope he gets caught."

The college principal said that two girls had been suspended. Their fate would be decided at a board disciplinary committee meeting on Monday. "This has been done to ensure that students are held accountable for their actions and that the school does everything possible to ensure the safety of all students, both at school and while travelling to and from school."