Two teenagers have been charged with randomly bashing a 13-year-old boy while he was out getting a drink in his pyjamas with his 12-year-old friend at Newcastle Interchange.
Police allege one of the teenagers, a 16-year-old boy, was on bail at the time. He and another teenager, a 17-year-old boy, were released from custody to face a children's court at a later date.
Police Transport Command officers were patrolling the transport hub in Newcastle West about 9pm on Saturday, May 30, when they were alerted that two unknown people had assaulted the 13-year-old on Stewart Avenue.
The alleged victim and his friend, who had desperately tried to seek help, then ran home and the older boy was taken to hospital, where he remained overnight, with facial injuries.
The mothers of the two boys revealed their fears to the Newcastle Herald about the safety of the city after dark in the wake of the incident. They said they were speaking up out of fear something similar could happen to someone else.
Police at the scene launched extensive inquiries but were unable to locate the two alleged attackers after they reportedly fled on foot.
Officers attended a unit at Stockton about 8am on Wednesday, June 3, where they arrested a 16-year-old boy. About 5pm that evening, police arrested a 17-year-old boy at Broadmeadow.
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Both boys were taken to police stations and charged with shoplifting, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company.
The younger accused was also charged with breaching bail. Police refused his release but he was granted bail in a children's court.
The 17-year-old was granted conditional bail to face a children's court next month.
Confronting footage of the alleged assault shows more unknown people got involved, believed to be up to three, as the boy was bashed near the tram line.
His mother told the Herald that CT scans and ultrasounds at hospital confirmed no fractures, but he was shaken up, had a busted lip, was bruised and had been bleeding from his nose and mouth.
The mothers said the boys had been having a sleepover at an apartment near Newcastle Interchange when they ducked out in their pyjamas to find a vending machine.
"It upsets me to think that our children may not be here today, just because they wanted to go down and get a drink," the mother of the 13-year-old boy said.
"I'm concerned that the next time this happens, a child or young person may not live, then I couldn't live with knowing that."
The mother of the 12-year-old said she had raised two children in Sydney and would be heading back as soon as her lease was up because she now felt people could not safely go out at night in Newcastle.
