Police investigate after boy with autism bashed with spanners
Police are investigating after a boy with autism was beaten with spanners by a group of teens in an incident captured on video.
Victoria Police confirmed they are investigating an assault on a teenage boy in Northcote, which happened about 3.45pm on Tuesday on St Georges Road.
"Investigators have been told a boy was assaulted by a group of teenagers," a spokeswoman said. "The teen suffered bruising to his face and legs."
Paramedics were called to the scene at 4pm and took the boy to the Austin Hospital.
Video footage of the incident obtained by News Corp shows the teenager being grabbed by his shirt and pulled violently off his bike. He is then pinned to the ground while lying on his back as a boy repeatedly punches him in the head.
The footage appears to show several boys holding large silver spanners, which they repeatedly swing at the boy during the incident, hitting him in the legs and back.
At one stage, a bystander attempts to intervene but he is also attacked with a spanner.
Later in the video, the victim is pushed violently to the ground and kicked in the head.
“You got a problem? You got a problem?” one of the teens can be heard saying.
The boy's mother, Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins, said on social media on Wednesday that her son Quinn, 14, was allegedly beaten by four to five teenagers with spanners and wrenches.
She said the group had allegedly bullied Quinn and his friend on social media, and forced them to meet outside Northcote High School on Tuesday afternoon.
Ms Lahiff-Jenkins said she only learned of the attack when her son called her from the back of an ambulance.
"My son is shocked and devastated, his new bike we picked up yesterday for him to do the great vic bike ride is damaged and he is too scared to leave the house. He was already forcing himself to leave everyday and I doubt he will go to school again!" she said on Twitter.
"And the effects on his mental health will be profound. It’s so hard to be a teenage boy, let alone grapple with the social weight of autism without being targeted by bullies."
She said on Wednesday night she was at the police station giving a statement.