Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 2, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - The parents of an 11-year-old boy assaulted by five other youths in broad daylight last week are warning children and other parents to keep their eyes open for a group of kids exhibiting gang-like behaviour.

Rene and Paula Bauhaus, parents of an 11-year-old boy who was assaulted by a group of kids, with their five-month-old daughter, Brianne. The boy is not pictured out of fear of retribution from his assailants. - Amanda Vaughan/NNSL photo

"Kids need to know to go to a safe place when they feel scared, and to walk with a buddy whenever they can," said the boy's father, Rene Bauhaus.

The Bauhaus' 11-year-old son, whose name they did not want published, was walking home from his after-school volleyball practice on Tuesday, Oct. 23 when he was approached by a group of five youths, most of whom appeared to be around his own age, though none were familiar to him.

The group of kids passed the boy, and then appeared to be talking about him and pointing.

"They were making him feel uncomfortable," said Paula Bauhaus.

Paula said that after the youths passed by her son on the street, less than four blocks away from their home, they turned and attacked him from behind, punching him in the jaw and ripping his backpack off his shoulders before shoving him to the ground, slamming his face into the gravel, and kicking him in the head and body.

According to Rene, his son said one of the attackers appeared to be a bit older than the rest, maybe in his mid-teens, and he was giving the younger boys directions.

"He was telling them how to carry out the attack," Rene said of the older boy. "He was telling them to kick (the victim) in the head, and they were doing what he said."

The couple said that the group appeared to be behaving like a gang in that respect, taking direction from a ringleader. They both said they have seen more young kids roaming the streets in recent years, and said that parents should know where their kids are and what they are doing.

"The old attitude that boys will be boys, and aggression is OK, it's not right," Rene said.

Paula and Rene said their son described the five youths as having an average build, aboriginal males, and all around 5'2" in height. She said that four of the boys were dressed in similar jeans and black hoodies, and the fifth was wearing a baseball cap.

In a letter to Yellowknifer, Paula asked anyone who might know something to come forward.

"If you happened to witness this incident take place near the Inkit business, please call the RCMP with any information you may have," the letter reads.

Const. Roxanne Dreilich of the RCMP's community policing unit said that they haven't had any reports of a similar group of youths, but that there was an ongoing investigation into the assault, and a number of patrols were made in the area.

In the meantime, Rene and Paula are helping their son cope with a traumatizing event.

"He's still a little unsteady on his feet," Paula said, adding that her son's injuries were not as severe as they could have been, but bad enough for him to be taking painkillers every six hours.

"He's having trouble sleeping because of the head injuries," she said.

Paula said it was ironic that the attack happened only a few weeks after they had decided to let their son walk to school alone.

"You need to be able to give your kids some independence, some freedom to develop normally," she said, but added that they will now be driving their son to and from school for some time. She said he doesn't want to walk alone now anyways.

"He's now only comfortable leaving the house to go to a safe environment," she said.