TWO BROTHERS aged 12 and 10 yesterday admitted carrying out a sustained attack on two boys in parkland in South Yorkshire during which their victims were tortured, beaten, robbed and sexually assaulted.
One of the victims, an 11-year-old boy, almost died when part of a bathroom sink was smashed against his head. He was only saved when local people went out searching after the other boy, aged nine, was found wandering a street in Edlington, on the edge of Doncaster, severely traumatised and covered in blood.
During the assault on Saturday April 4th the brothers also used a noose, lighted cigarettes, bricks and sharp ends of sticks to torment their victims.
At one point, the older victim, who was found with ligature marks around his neck, begged the brothers: “Leave me, I can’t see. Leave me to die.” Yesterday the brothers pleaded guilty at Sheffield crown court to committing grievous bodily harm, robbery, and forcing the victims to perform sexual acts on each other. Prosecutors agreed not to pursue a more serious charge of attempted murder, which the brothers denied, to avoid the necessity of a full trial in which the victims would have had to give evidence. Sentencing will take place in November.
The attack has echoes of the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993 by two boys aged 10 at the time. Yesterday it emerged that the brothers were both known to police and social services after earlier violent incidents. On the morning of the attack they had been due to answer questions at a local police station about a separate incident a week before in which another 11-year-old boy was assaulted. They had only been in Edlington, a former pit village, for about three weeks, living with foster parents aged in their 60s.
Mr Justice Keith, at the two-day hearing, said he would speak as far as possible in plain language, explaining at one point that the prosecution was “the word we use for the people making the case against you”.
Glancing only occasionally at each other, the elder brother, dressed in a short-sleeved black shirt and dark tie, shifted in his seat and yawned during the hearing. His much smaller and slighter younger brother, wearing a white shirt and dark tie, appeared more focused.
They only spoke when pleading to the nine charges, the 12-year-old answering “guilty” or “not guilty” in a clear voice, while his brother was more hesitant.
– (Guardian service)