Aveley Secondary College in Perth’s north-east has released a statement after a student was arrested over the alleged assault of a 14-year-old fellow student at Ellenbrook Central shopping centre on Wednesday.
The incident after school was witnessed by numerous onlookers who described seeing the boy approached by a group of others and allegedly assaulted. Police have confirmed the alleged attacker and victim were known to each other.
The incident allegedly happened at Ellenbrook Central.
The teen was left with serious facial injuries including a broken jaw and was having seizures, his father said on Friday, calling for justice and claiming other students stood by watching and filming the alleged incident.
The 14-year-old, who is in Perth Children’s Hospital, was conscious on Friday, but his MRI scans showed some bleeding on the brain.
The father said there was “blood and carnage everywhere” afterwards.
“It was awful,” he said. “Having the police there, security, people standing by videoing what’s happening and just seeing my son in pain.”
The boy’s father is not the only one upset, with angry Ellenbrook locals writing to Premier Roger Cook to demand the alleged attacker be kept behind bars.
The boy’s 15-year-old alleged attacker was arrested by police on Thursday charged with one count of committing acts intended to cause harm or endanger a person’s life, health or safety.
He was granted bail to appear in court at a later date.
On Friday, Aveley Secondary College principal Stephen Pestana released a statement to parents.
“The school is taking this matter very seriously and has taken very strong action with the student,” he said.
Aveley Secondary College principal Stephen Pestana has released a statement to parents about the incident.Credit: Facebook
“The action extends to incidents that occur offsite if there is a connection to the school.”
Pestana said students would face strong consequences if they engaged in violent or antisocial acts.
This included the loss of good standing, suspensions and, in very serious cases, expulsion.
“I ask all parents and the community work together with the school on this,” Pestana said.
“I am aware that the local shopping centre has put in place some measures to keep young people safe.
“We fully support the shopping centre management requirements for zero tolerance on disruptive and aggressive behaviour and will take strong action if they bring any inappropriate behaviour to my attention.”
Frustrated members of the Ellenbrook community are attempting to rally support from the community for a protest over the school’s “lack of action at the serious assault in Ellenbrook”.
Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti took to social media on Friday afternoon to say she and member for Swan Hills, Michelle Maynard, had been in contact with local police and the Police Minister, to request extra police presence at the shopping centre, particularly during the after-school period.
She said she understood “the deep concern within the Ellenbrook community about what is happening at the shopping centres after school”.
“We also intend to work with local high schools, the shopping centre management and local police to explore what else can be done to help ensure our community can feel safer,” she said.
“We have scheduled a meeting for this to occur on Monday morning.
“We thank the members of the community who have reached out to us to voice their concerns. We are working through these emails to respond to you all.”
Saffioti added that her thoughts were with the family of the 14-year-old.