Revealed: The horrific torture three children dished out on a Smethwick brain-damaged teen
SADISTIC young thugs tortured a brain damaged 13-year-old boy after snatching him off the streets and saying: “We’re going to have some fun.’’
The three tearaways, aged just 12, 13 and 15, had bullied the vulnerable victim for months despite knowing he was recovering from a car crash which had left him in a coma with head injuries.
But the ‘cowardly’ bullies launched a chilling and brutal attack that will inevitably draw comparisons to other sickening cases of child-on-child violence, including the Jamie Bulger killing.
The gang had grabbed the 13-year-old Muslim boy off a street in Smethwick and forced him into one of their homes.
Over the next 30 minutes he was repeatedly kicked, punched, subjected to cruel taunts and death threats. Most shockingly the thugs used an “improvised blowtorch” to set fire to his trousers and singe his hair.
The terror trio were sentenced for the shameless attack when they appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday. Each had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and false imprisonment.
The court heard the 15-year-old had previous convictions for assault, robbery and attempted robbery, and his mother had also been prosecuted for failing to keep him at school.
His 13-year-old accomplice also had an appalling school attendance record.
Most sinister, the 12-year-old was described as a “danger to others” after being excluded from school SIX times and placed in isolation because of the risk he posed to teachers and other children.
The victim, who lived on the same Black Country street as his abusers, was left in a coma after suffering brain damage in a serious road accident two years ago. But the brave schoolboy defied the odds and battled back to health.
Yet the hushed courtroom heard how he was walking on his street at 7.30pm on Saturday May 16 when the group surrounded him and said: ‘‘You’re coming with us – or we’ll bang you. We’re going to have some fun.’’
The terrified youngster was “hustled and bustled” to the home of the 15-year-old and shoved into the living room.
The victim was then told to open his mouth and drink alcohol or the gang “were going to kill” him, but he bravely refused as alcohol is against his religion.
One of the younger yobs produced an aerosol and ignited it with a lighter – turning it into an ‘improvised blowtorch’. The young bullies then took it in turns to aim the flaming weapon towards the sobbing 13-year-old victim.
The panicking youngster thrashed about, trying to put out the flames, while the gang looked on, laughing.
It was down to luck that the victim did not suffer serious burns, the court heard. In the end only his trousers and his hair were burnt and singed.
But after the aerosol incident the violence continued as he was repeatedly kicked and punched by his attackers who bragged: “We are players. And we are playing you around.”
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