The local police service and the public prosecutor's office have opened an investigation after a 15-year-old boy was violently beaten in the Limburg municipality of Herk-de-Stad. Images circulating on social media show the boy being punched and kicked by another youth. A suspect has been apprehended. Like the victim he is a pupil at the Sint-Martinus Secondary School.
Minor suspected of violent attack on another teenager in Herk-de-Stad apprehended
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The attack took place shortly after school had finished on Monday. It now appears that the attack was an escalation of a dispute between the 2 boys that had started earlier in the day while they were both at school.
The footage that we have chosen not to publish in this article shows a teenage boy receiving a heavy blow to the head. The boy falls to the ground, after which he is kicked in the head several times, while he is lying there.
Broken jaw
The boy’s 14-year-old girlfriend was also reportly attacked. He father says that she has dislocated her shoulder. The boy lost two teeth and sustained a broken jaw. He was taken to hospital for treatment.
The attack took place near to the Sint-Martinus Secondary School in the centre of Herk-de-Stad. The local police service went to the scene and started searching for the suspected assailant. The prosecutor’s office has also opened an investigation. A suspect has been apprehended. He is a minor from Diest (Flemish Brabant) and like the victim is a pupil at Sint-Martinus.
“We are all shocked”
The coordinating head of the school Joris Verboven told VRT News “First and foremost, I would like to say that the whole school is shocked by what has happened. We abhor all forms of violence”.
"It is indeed the case that there was an incident at school during the day. This was dealt with by pupil supervisors and staff at the Head’s office”. However, things got seriously out of hand once school was over.
Mr Verboven went onto say that everything will now be done to maintain calm at the school and pupils will be given the chance to talk about what has happened both during class discussions and one-on-on with a student supervisor if they feel the need to. Three pupils have been suspended from the school and boy that carried out the attack is the subject of a disciplinary investigation.