Boy fighting for life after assault

Apr 5 2009

An 11-year-old boy is battling life-threatening head injuries after a vicious attack in which another young boy was slashed with a knife.

The pair were found during a frantic search in the Brick Ponds area of Edlington, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on Saturday.

People living nearby described how the younger boy, aged nine, was seen wandering along the street "dazed" and covered in blood.

Jean Wright, 68, said: "My husband saw him walking past the outside of our house and he was covered in what my husband thought was red paint. When he went out he saw it was blood.

"We brought him in and my husband calmed him down. He had a big gash on his arm and he was covered in blood on his head. He was shaking very badly and going into shock. We managed to get his name out of him and my husband told me to call an ambulance."

The youngster told them that he and the other boy, who appears to be his uncle, had been riding bikes and were beaten up. Alarmingly, he said the older boy could not see, and Mrs Wright and her husband Derek, 70, immediately alerted police.

Mr Wright described how his son Ian found the 11-year-old on the edge of a stream, lying face down with his arms outstretched covered in dried mud and blood. He waited with him until the police arrived as the youngster drifted in and out of consciousness. Mr Wright said: "They're animals, absolute animals. How any child could do this to another child I don't know."

He continued: "That's one brave lad. He was in shock but he kept repeating 'my uncle, he can't see' and worrying about him."

Police were called at around 2.20pm on Saturday after the nine-year-old was found on Auburn Road. He was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary. The 11-year-old was critically injured and was air-lifted to Sheffield Children's Hospital and put in intensive care. His condition is critical but stable, South Yorkshire police said.

Officers stopped two boys aged 10 and 11 in allotments near the ravine and they remain in custody.