Parents are telling teens to walk in pairs or go another way to and from school after spate of attacks on students in Melbourne’s south-east.
On Monday, a 14-year-old student was forced into a car by a group of people and later was thrown from a moving vehicle near the intersection of Grange Road during the robbing spree.
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Police say the boy from Glen Eira College has been left with “life-altering injuries” from the attack.
Inspector Scott Dwyer told ABC Melbourne Radio that the abduction and attack was “sickening”, and he anticipated the boy would remain in hospital for some time.
“He’s in a really bad way … he’s going to probably have life-altering injuries as a result of this incident,” Inspector Dwyer said.
He said the boy may experience severe mental trauma even after the physicality of those injuries improved.
“The poor boy was just walking home from school with a friend, and it would appear that it’s just a random attack,” he said.
He said the group of offenders tried to obtain phones, laptops and wallets from students.
On Wednesday, parents told The Age that they had changed their routines after the incident, with some parents choosing to drive their children to school or walk with them.
Shriyans Katariya, a father whose son attends Glen Eira College, told The Age they were “pretty scared” following the attack.
He has lived in the suburb for three years and thought the area was safe.
“It’s bit shocking…I never thought anything like this would happen,” Mr Katariya said.
Another student said the school urged students to travel in groups, not “dilly-dally” on the way home, be aware and call police if anything happened.
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