Robbery & Assault
I was a bit worried when my 15 year old nephew Hugh, who lives with us, didn't answer the home phone or his mobile after school yesterday. I usually call him at 4.30 from work. Then I knew something was wrong when someone else answered his mobile & I could hear train noises & thuggish laughing. I kept calling - the mobile would either ring out, someone would answer and hang up, or they'd just yell "What!!" I had to teach at 6 so Richard rushed home. He called me (unprecedented, I left my mobile on in class) to say that Hugh wasn't there and then I was REALLY concerned. We decided to call the police, and Richard was on the phone to them when Hugh walked in, bruised & bashed up, his mobile & wallet stolen.
He'd been walking up our street at about 4pm when he was hit from behind. It was two older & bigger boys; he didn't know them. One of them pinned his arms to his sides & the other punched him. They scratched his chest, tore his shirt & bruised his face. Richard & Hugh spent a few hours up at the police station & then we were visited last night by Constable Yvonne & Constable Josh, who were very nice. They took the ripped shirt away in a brown paper bag & took some of Hugh's DNA so they can separate it from any the attackers left behind. There's a chance they'll be able to track them down through the phone calls they will make.
Hugh is in good spirits but one of his eyes is swelling up this morning so we're off to see doctor Nigel.
6 comments:
Oh, that's terrible - and the thugs answering must have terrified you. Poor kid, I'm glad to hear you say he's bearing up well.
It was awful, but when they finally spoke to me I knew that at least they weren't the kidnapping types - too thick. His mother's first thought was that he might have been stabbed - thank goodness that didn't occur to me...
Dorian told me about this last night. I hope Hugh's feeling alright. And I hope the police catch them and somebody explains to them how serious this sort of thing is.
"and somebody explains to them how serious this sort of thing is"
yeah, right.
Amazingly, one of them was caught and arrested on Friday. He's been charged with assault and "robbery in company". So I guess Hugh will have to go to court etc.
How horrible. The same thing happened to my brother at about the same age (sans mobile phone element, as this was the 80's...) and we had a series of very sad photos of him looking grim and drawn with a big black eye. The thugs went to court and were ordered to do community service and pay a fine. My abiding memory is how long it took for them to pay the fine--which they must have been doing out of their pocket money because it was something like one pound fifty a week! If it's any consolation, my brother doesn't seem permanently traumatised. Best wishes to Hugh for a quick recovery and no post-traumatic nerves.
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