Father of teen attacked by almost 20 youths unhappy with how it’s being handled

The father of teen bashed and robbed by as many as 18 youths says police aren’t doing enough to help.

Police have since conceded they could have handled it better.

Chris told Neil Mitchell his son and two friends were walking back from McDonald’s around dinner time on Sunday when they were confronted by what he described as a group of “tall, black youths”.

He said they were trying to start a fight, with more and more youths arriving as the situation escalated.

It eventually led to a scuffle and one of the attackers producing a “20 centimetre knife”.

“He was literally trying to slash and stab my son,” Chris said.

“At that point, my son screamed at his friends to run into the first house and they were banging and screaming on the door.”

Police quickly arrived and a report was filed.

Chris says a tracking app has shown them where his son’s stolen phone may be, but police won’t go and look.

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Inspector Martin Allison, who is the local area commander, admits there had been failings.

“We own those mistakes and we’ll make sure we’ll get to the bottom and prioritise this investigation,” he said.

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