The victim curled up into a foetal position in order to protect his head. Photo / Supplied
The victim curled up into a foetal position in order to protect his head. Photo / Supplied
One of a gang of youths shown in a video attacking a 14-year-old boy at Westfield Riccarton has apologised.
The mother of the victim said her son felt "a bit better" after the apology, though last week there had been no more updates on identifying or charging the rest ofthe youths.
She had heard the group were aged between 11 and 16.
"But then ... there has been other children that have been attacked, so that worries me a lot," she said.
Star News published stills of a video shared online of the attack, showing the boys throwing the victim to the ground and stealing his shoes.
The victim's mother said the community had rallied around them, with a large group of parents who had shown support.
Another attack at the BMX track in Hornby recently was "ten times worse" than the attack on her son.
"There's a lot of parents that are really worried about their kids ... working together and supporting each other. That's a positive," she said.
A confidence-building course at school her son had participated in before the attack made a "huge difference" when it happened.
While it was "really scary" kids continued to be attacked - some younger than her son - she was hopeful of change with more people speaking out and trying to do something about it.
"It might just stop something seriously bad happening to someone else's young boys," she said.
Her son wanted to go down to Westfield Riccarton on the weekend, but she did not let him.
"He was pretty mad at me about it, but it's like I have to keep you safe now because it's not safe and there's something new happening every weekend and it's scary."
