Five-year-old’s teeth broken after boys chased him in store
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD was left with four broken teeth and a cut lip after being chased by four boys through a Cardiff shop.
Samantha Crew said her son is now scared to go out after the incident on Newport Road on Monday night.
Samantha, 33, was in Poundland with her son when Charlie wandered off, playing with a foam pirate sword.
But moments later the mother-of-one heard a scream as the primary school pupil ran back towards her with a bloody nose.
Samantha, from Rumney, said: “The police reviewed CCTV and explained what they could see.
“They said that Charlie was chasing [the boys] with a foam sword, a pirate sword, and they took it off him and snapped it in half and threw it.
“The police explained they could see Charlie running away again and two boys going in one direction and two boys going in another direction. They were chasing him.
“The one boy shoved Charlie and he fell and that’s when the CCTV stops. They were about 11 or 12 years old.
“I asked what had happened and Charlie pointed at the boys and they ran out of the store.”
Samantha said the boys were brought back into the shop and the police were called.
After taking her son to the dentist she was first told four of Charlie’s teeth would have to be removed.
But it was later decided to let three teeth fall out naturally to save the boy undergoing anaesthetic.
Samantha said: “He was really screaming, not just screaming because he’d got lost – he was properly crying. My heart was in my mouth.
“He had a big nose bleed as well and a cut lip.
“The boys said nothing had happened. They told him the tooth fairy would come.”
She added: “Charlie’s really shaken up, I had to go to the shops on my own yesterday as he wouldn’t come.
“He’s gone out with his dad today but he didn’t want to, he was very reluctant to go.
“He hasn’t been to school.” A spokesman for South Wales Police said officers have spoken to the children involved.
Samantha said: “At first it didn’t really hit me as I was so preoccupied with Charlie and talking to the police and the hospital so it was only last night that the realisation hit about what had happened to him.
“The police asked us if we would accept restorative justice but my son is only five years old – an apology won’t mean anything to him.
“It’s not suitable. Those kids were 11, 12 years old and they were nowhere near where they live.
“The police have said we can now press charges.”
A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “Police in Cardiff are investigating an assault upon a five-year-old boy in a store on Newport Road, Cardiff, which was reported shortly after 6.30pm on Monday, December 10.
“Officers have spoken to the children involved and the matter is in hand.”