Auckland train station assault: Gang of youths attack teen and steal his $300 Nike sneakers

The mother of a boy who was viciously attacked and robbed by a gang of youths near an Auckland train station has made a desperate plea for the group to be found.

The 15-year-old boy was hospitalised after the unprovoked assault on Sunday while leaving the title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/avondale/">Avondale train station in West Auckland.

His brand-new Nike sneakers, priced at more than $300, were ripped from his feet during the ordeal.

The teen’s mother, who wished to stay anonymous, told the Herald of the moment she got the call from her son.

“It was pretty horrific, he’s like, ‘Mum, I’ve just been jumped, they’ve beaten me, they’ve cut my eye, they’ve taken my shoes,’” she said.

The teenager’s mother said her son spent the night with a friend on Saturday and was on his way to meet up with his girlfriend when the attack was sparked.

“He was training to Avondale, and she just lives up around the corner from the train station,” his mother said.

“She actually walked to meet him at the train station.”

She said her son saw a group of boys sitting a few metres from him on the train and wasn’t suspicious of anything at that stage.

Seven young males were involved, including one who appeared to be younger than the others, she said.

“The rest were 16,17 or 18. He said they’re really older, three, four of them had like full beards,” she said.

The youngest one approached her son as he got off the train and started to head off to where he was going.

“I think they walked ahead of him, and then the youngest one called to him and approached him and said, ‘What size are your shoes you’re wearing?’”

Her son was wearing a tracksuit and Nike TNs at the time of the attack, she said.

The 15-year-old boy was hospitalised after the unprovoked assault at an Auckland train station.

“He fought for his shoes with the younger one, and then a second one jumped in,” she said.

“They tried to take his pants as well.”

His mother said his girlfriend arrived at the scene, and the group of boys had already vanished by the time she got there.

“She actually came down the ramp or down the bridge or something as it had finished and [he] was covered in blood.

“He was alone, shoeless in his socks and bleeding from his face.”

She said the pair ran back to his girlfriend’s house nearby, where she started to clean him up.

“It was pretty horrific, actually.

“His girlfriend had plastered his eye up before I got there and washed his hands and everything like that.

“It wasn’t until I got home and I took the plaster off, because ... it was still bleeding a bit, I realised when I took the plaster off that his eye was open, like his eyelid had been cut open. And he had a chipped tooth.”

The 15-year-old boy was hospitalised after the unprovoked assault at the Avondale Train Station on Sunday.

‘If my boy hadn’t stopped fighting, it could have been worse’

His mother said he is now recovering well and even asked to go back to school today.

“His friends have been really, really good, really supportive,” she said.

“I don’t think they [the boys] realise how serious this stuff can be. If my boy hadn’t stopped fighting, it could have been worse.”

She said his father told him that he didn’t want him to continue catching that train after the attack.

Her son told her the incident occurred in an area that was clearly in view of CCTV.

Police said they are investigating a report of an aggravated robbery at the Avondale train station on Sunday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Darvill said it was reported that a 15-year-old passenger who had disembarked about 1.30pm was followed off the train by a group of youths who had boarded earlier at New Lynn station.

“It is alleged one of the group indicated he wanted the teenager’s shoes, and he was assaulted by several of the youths near a walkway that leads to Blockhouse Bay Rd,” Darvill said.

Something similar happened to a friend of his, who had a laptop stolen by a group of boys on a train, his mother said.

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