Violence begets violence. We see enough of it in Hawke's Bay to know this is true.
A 14-year-old Flaxmere College schoolgirl is allegedly set upon by two other girls with such violence that her back is broken and she now has screws inserted in her skull and is wearing a halo brace.
There are two sides to most stories and we don't know why this attack occurred but nothing justifies such brutal behaviour.
Now the two alleged teenage offenders face charges of serious assault, an outcome which will have a massive effect on their lives. One has to wonder whether they have the critical faculties to have foreseen the possible consequences of their actions.
A lesson for other youth? Hardly, if you judge by the tone of some of the Facebook comments flying around the teenage community in the wake of this incident. There is no shortage of the sort of "gangsta" posturing and threats you would imagine accompanies the mindset of girls prepared to pulverise each other and post the bashing on YouTube.