"We're in living hell", says Bristol woman
A woman who witnessed the horrific beatings of two men in Henbury says the area is becoming a "living hell".
Mother-of-three Mary Gray was driving along Crow Lane early on Sunday when she saw a gang of teenagers attacking friends Shane Braga and Marcio Toso.
-
She told how watching the frenzied attack was like watching a "pack of wild animals" and said she was almost sick as they rained blows on the helpless pair.
The 39-year-old pulled over and phoned the police, giving the 999 operator an account of the incident as it happened.
She was returning from driving some friends home from the pub.
But by the time police officers arrived on the scene – 10 minutes later – the gang of at least 20 youths had already disappeared.
She said: "The area is worse than a nightmare – it's a living hell. The kids are allowed to rule and they have been allowed to get completely out of control.
"If you walk along Crow Lane after dark, you're taking your life in your hands. It's a complete no-go area."
Mrs Gray, who lives in Brentry, refused to be photographed for fear that her home, car and children would become targets of reprisals.
She said: "They wouldn't think twice about hitting me for talking to the media."
And she hit out at police claims that their patrols had been increased in the Henbury area.
Mrs Gray said: "If the police were in the area like they claim, then how come it took them at least 10 minutes to get to Crow Lane when I'm sat watching the beatings take place?
"At first I just thought it was kids arguing. It was the girls in the group who threw the first punches. The two guys were then dragged to the floor, kicked in the face and repeatedly stamped on.
"It was so brutal I was nearly physically sick. It was like watching a pack of wild animals tear their prey apart."
Police have said they will clamp down on anti-social behaviour by handing out Asbos to the main culprits.
Mrs Gray added: "Asbos don't work. Some of the kids already have them and it doesn't stop them. Giving them another won't help. They need to be locked up."
As reported in the Bristol Post, Mr Braga, 28, and Mr Toso, 30, were attacked in Crow Lane at about 2am on Sunday.
The pair, who had been talking together in Portuguese, were approached by a group of four girls and asked what language they were speaking.
Within seconds a large group emerged out of the darkness and attacked them, robbing them of a laptop and keys for two cars.
Mr Braga, who blacked out in the attack, was left with chipped teeth, a black eye and a swollen and badly bruised head.
Mr Toto, of Southmead, needed 10 stitches to his forehead and was left with a broken nose.
Police have admitted that they had been dealing with an increased level of anti-social behaviour for a few weeks.
They said yesterday that an investigation was under way into Sunday's attack but that no one had been arrested.
Steve Game, an Avon and Somerset police spokesman, said the force had nothing further to add to what it had already said on the issue.
15 Comments
View all
by Lamiral, Paris-France
Friday, March 20 2009, 1:03PM
“First of all, I'd like to thank you Mrs Gray. You Save my son's life...I think you're a very brave woman to talk to the media. I'm glad, because of your statement people can realize what happened with Shane and Marcio if they had any doubt about it. As a told to the police I'm waiting for justice and I'm couting on them. "La barbarie" still has its place in cotemporary society...Man is man's wolf.”
by Shelly, Bristol
Thursday, March 12 2009, 11:13PM
“Firstly I know not every young person is a thug, a thief or a druggie but I have to ask Am I the only one who can see a correlation between the increase in violent antisocial behaviour and the decrease in authority.
when I grew up if I misbehaved my parents would back the teacher or the police. I was a child and I had no rights As a child you were ruled by the adults in your life.respect was expected as was an acceptable level of behaviour and woe betide you if you stepped out of line because when you were told you would be punished you knew it was going to happen and that it wouldn't be pleasant (and I'm not just talking corporal punishment. There were all sorts of deterrents).
Now the kids are the ones with all the power and they know it. They are savvy enough to know how to use it. Unfortunately most don't have the maturity to learn from their elders and betters.They have not learned any social responsibility or how to become a useful member of society. They have learned however through shameless commercialism that they are entitled to have what they want when they want and to hell with everyone else. and what does the government do? they ban the use of the word 'naughty' in schools. They give out useless Asbo's when they should be making these thugs sorry they were ever born. instead of rewarding hard working children you reward the thugs when they decide to behave. instead of extolling the virtues of working you allow people to languish on benefits. They have no hope because no one expects anything from them. But the main thing is the trend since the free loving 60's for children to have children. The lie was to do whatever felt good and because of this children missed out on learning how to be parents from their own parents. These children had children and were unable to parent effectively because they didn't know how to. And so the cycle goes on and on each generation more detached from parenting skills than the last. so Well done to the loony lefties you have succeeded in screwing up the next generations.”
by Sue, Henbury
Thursday, March 12 2009, 8:32PM
“We have to stop thinking of single solutions (ie parenting) for these problems. Off the top of my head: we have a significant number of the local population are elderly or vulnerable, there are no reasons (like restaurants) for a reasonable mix of people on Crow Lane at night so the only groups there are there to cause trouble, being bristol the transport is awful and expensive - which makes it hard to encourage kids to go to other activities, community activism is not strong and difficult to engage with if you do not want to go to a church group.
The city and the community needs to ask for help from all available resources to rebuild to community (not just from government groups or funding sources, but also expertise from local universities and from areas that have successfully dealt with this problem.)
On a selfish note, I I hope the dispersal orders previously used are not reinstated as they simply pushed the problems further into the darker roads where people are less likely to get help.”
by I blame my mother, Bristol
Thursday, March 12 2009, 7:58PM
“Educated, Mandy is proposing that her children's behaviour is determined by nativism rather
than empiricism.
Since only one of her four offspring has had behavioural problems, Mandy asserts that she is not culpable for his behaviour.
She goes on to add that, (in her eyes) an ASBO (a civil order made against a person who has been shown to have engaged in anti-social behaviour) is an ineffective deterrent as many youths and policemen (wow, rough area !) in her locale have them and both parties disregard them until a catastrophic event occurs.
She then requests that we don't hold parents accountable for all events.
Does that make any more sense ?”
by Catherine, Chipping Sodbury
Thursday, March 12 2009, 7:26PM
“I sincerely hope the two victims are recovering well and this nasty cowardly attack doesn't put them off Bristol! What a dreadful thing to happen to them. I also hope Mrs Gray is ok after witnessing that, it must have been horrible to see.”