Autistic boy beaten with spanner, kicked in gang attack outside a Melbourne school
TWO more teenagers have been charged over an alleged assault of an autistic boy in Melbourne’s northern suburbs earlier this week.
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TWO more teenagers have been charged over an alleged assault of an autistic boy in Melbourne’s northern suburbs earlier this week.
It was alleged defenceless 14-year-old Quinn Lahiff-Jenkinsa was assaulted by a group of teenagers outside a school about 3.45pm on Tuesday.
He was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Detectives from the Transit Crime Investigation Unit charged the two teens, aged 14 and 16, with affray, recklessly causing injury and intentionally causing injury, as well as weapons offences.
On Thursday, a 15-year-old boy was also charged with affray, recklessly causing injury and intentionally causing injury.
All three boys have been bailed and will appear at a children’s court at a later date.
SCHOOL BULLIES COST MILLIONS PER YEAR
The principal of the school said some of the teens involved in the “awful attack” appeared to have been students of the school.
She said they were meeting with the families of those students today “to get to the bottom of what happened” with appropriate disciplinary actions to be taken by the end of the day.
“This behaviour is totally unacceptable and does not reflect the values of our school,” the principal said in the statement.
“Our thoughts are with the student who was attacked and his family.”
Disturbing footage obtained by the Herald Sun shows Quinn being yanked off his bike and pinned to the ground. A second boy in a grey top, Quinn’s friend, attempts to stop the attack on Quinn and is in turn set upon by a teen who strikes him with a spanner.
“You got a problem? You got a problem?” the spanner-wielding teen says to his victim.
The attacker lands multiple blows to Quinn’s head while another youth whacks his legs with a metal spanner. Once he regains his footing, a boy grabs him to the head and knees him in the head before taking him to the ground again.
The footage shows how Quinn is then cornered between two boys armed with spanners, who attack him from front and behind before chasing him toward traffic where he is held down and kicked to the head by three boys.
Quinn’s mother, Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins described the video as “pretty gruesome”.
She described how her “justice-driven” son had gone to the aid of a friend who was being bullied by contacting them on social media.
“He contacted these kids and told them they were being bad friends, because of his autism he’s not always able to recognise things,” Carmen told 3AW.
“The children rang him, and rang him, and said, ‘Meet us at the school, if you don’t come we’re going to come to your house and rape your mother’.”
Ms Lahiff-Jenkins said she was disappointed no one — besides Quinn’s friend — stepped in.
“No adults stopped to help, no one beeped their horn or did anything, which another thing which is very distressing.
“It’s an incredible level of violence.
“It’s my husband and my worst nightmare, I know it's the worst nightmare of most parents who have an autistic child.”
Ms Lahiff-Jenkins said her worst nightmare came to life when she received a phone call from her screaming and distressed son as he lay in the back of an ambulance on the way to hospital.
He is yet to leave his home and fears the terror which may await him outside.
Ms Lahiff-Jenkins said the physical pain was obvious but it was the emotional and mental damage that would hurt her son the most.
“There are marks on his body but mental health is the biggest issue,” she said.
The horrific attack comes just a year after the boy entered the mainstream school system.
The traumatised teen has spent most of his life at special schools, and had recently began forming friendships at his new school, Fitzroy High.
The principal of the high school outside where the attack occurred said the incident had “upset me, and the school community”.
“I’ll be speaking to students about the incident today to make clear that this type of behaviour is unacceptable and to make sure anyone who is upset gets support,” she said.
“We’re in regular contact with Fitzroy High School and we’ll work with them to ensure the student and his family get the support they need.”
The school reported the incident to police, with the principal stating they would “continue to do whatever we can to help them with their investigation”.
The principal said that her “door is always open” to those who wished to raise concerns or questions over the incident.
Department of Education and Training spokesman Steve Tolley said the behaviour was “totally unacceptable”.
“Incidents of violence and aggressive behaviour remain relatively rare in Victoria’s more than 1,500 government schools,” he said.
In the lead up to the bashing, Quinn rode his bike to the school before 4pm on Tuesday to confront the bullies who he claimed had verbally harassed him and his friend.
The badly-beaten boy told his mother the group had been taunting him with homophobic slurs before threatening to “rape his mother”.
They told him to come to the school to fight “one versus one” and not to bring friends.
Quinn’s friend, who is also on the autism spectrum, had told Quinn he had been taking the long way to school to avoid the bullies.
Ms Lahiff-Jenkins said her son was wanted to protect his friend.
She has been left stunned at the violence.
“It’s so hard to be a teenage boy, let alone grapple with the social weight of autism without being targeted by bullies,” she tweeted.
Victoria Police is investigating the assault.
Ms Lahiff-Jenkins said she will pursue criminal charges against her son’s attackers.
“It’s an interesting and terrifying reflection of our macho culture,” Ms Lahiff-Jenkins said.
“I feel very sorry for the parents of these kids.”