Bus coward’s attack

A TEENAGER has been slapped with a six-month detention order for bashing an elderly man on a Gold Coast bus after he asked the boy to stop smoking.

The attacker, who cannot be named because he was a juvenile at the time of the offence, will not be required to spend any time behind bars, instead being placed on a conditional release order for three months after he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm in the Southport District Court.

The court heard the teen punched the 71-year-old man in the head and face after he and several other teens were asked to get off the Surfside bus at Palm Beach when one of them lit up a cigarette.

The victim suffered a nasal fracture, prolonged double vision and was taken to hospital, the court was told.