Editorial: Attack on young boy disgusting

Azaleas Quenton, 12, after he was allegedly attacked by five high school students while walking home. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

These days parents are often accused of mollycoddling their children by driving them to school each day.

Those doing the moaning remember the "good old days" when they were young and used to walk many kilometres by themselves each day.

Well, times have changed - you also can't buy an ice cream for five cents like you could in those days.

We live in a relatively safe country, but one cannot begrudge parents who feel it is safer to fetch and carry their children to and from school or at the very least walk with them.

This point is made all the more pertinent when you hear stories like the one in today's paper of a 12-year-old boy, Azaleas Quenton, allegedly bashed by a group of five high school students while walking home with his bike from school in Hastings. The boy's family took to Facebook at the weekend to draw attention to the seemingly unprovoked attack on a youngster who, by all accounts, is a good kid.

As a father, I know how I feel if one of my daughters is hurt emotionally or physically. You want to make it all better and you also want justice.

This is a despicable act by teenagers who should have known better. It seems to be a clear case of a group of older kids picking on a smaller, defenceless child. What makes it worse is that he was hit from behind to start with. After that, the poor boy stood no chance as the pack mentality kicked in and he was badly beaten.

Let's hope these young thugs are caught and that they feel the full extent of the law. They are lucky the assault did not have fatal consequences as they could have been facing more serious charges.

Either way, their actions need to be roundly condemned.