Magistrate wants spanner basher in school after autistic boy assault
A TEEN who bashed an autistic boy with a spanner outside a Melbourne high school has had his punishment delayed as authorities try to get him to attend school.
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A TEEN who bashed an autistic boy with a spanner outside Northcote High School has had his punishment delayed as authorities try to get him to attend school.
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty yesterday in a Children’s Court to a series of attempted robberies, as well as the assault on the autistic boy.
The fight was filmed by fellow students and shocked Melbourne when the footage was posted by the Herald Sun.
The harrowing footage shows the victim being sat on and punched in the head before being struck on the legs with a spanner. The victim was later taken to hospital
A magistrate deferred her penalty decision until November to give the troubled boy a chance to prove he could attend school.
The boy, who is not a student of Northcote High School, has a sporadic attendance record because he struggles to get up in the morning.
The court heard his childhood had been affected by his parents’ drug use. He had been mostly cared for by a relative.
The victim of the spanner assault, who did not go to Northcote High School either, organised the fight through social media because he blamed another boy involved in the incident for bullying a friend who had left the school in 2015.
A large number of students watched the five-minute fight, on May 8, which was eventually broken up by teachers.
The boy was initially charged with 21 offences, most of which were committed before the fight. Police dropped 10 charges and the boy pleaded guilty to the rest, including criminal damage, affray, assault and weapons charges. One charge related to the attempted robbery of a woman when the boy was just 11.
He wore a mask when he jumped out of bushes on a Heidelberg West path, abused the woman and demanded her phone. The boy was also charged with defacing a cinema at Northland in 2015.
One of the other boys charged over the fight has already been given a diversion order. A third will appear in court next month.
The 15-year-old faces court again in November.