An Innisfail teen was swarmed by several other people in a playground a few weeks ago and now his attackers are facing charges.
Aidan Remple used to like to longboard through a neighbourhood park which is less than a block from his house.
He stopped coming to the park alone after he was attacked a few weeks ago.
“I picked my longboard up. I was going to make a run for it but then when I did, the one guy took it out of my hand and hit me over the head with it. When I was down they picked me up, put me on to the road and kept on punching me a lot,” said Aidan. “They did crack my head in the back, I had to get four stitches and they bruised my neck pretty bad right here.”
Neighbours rushed in to help and the attacking teens took off.
By the time Aidan's mom arrived, the ambulance was already there.
“Just to see him lying on the ground with his head covered in blood was just horrifying so I kind of got emotional. I got down on the ground and held his head,” said Jennifer Remple.
Police were called and quickly rounded up the alleged attackers.
The RCMP says a friend of Remple's may have exchanged words with one of the accused earlier in the day but say even if that's true, there is no excuse for what happened next.
“There should always be consequences for behaviour. One of the things when we talked to the offenders was a rather cavalier attitude towards these things so whenever we can lay charges we are sending a message to the community about what is acceptable and what is not and this is clearly not acceptable behaviour,” said RCMP Cpl. Jeff Hildebrandt.
Four people are now facing charges of assault with a weapon and robbery.
Three of the accused are teenagers but the fourth is an adult and could face serious jail time.
The charges are not enough to put the Remple family at ease.
“Whenever I go a long way, I kind of check around the corner to make sure they are not coming by or I will look around the area to make sure they are not anywhere here. It makes you a little worried to go, even now I’m kind of scared to walk to the Mac's store by myself,” said Aidan.
“Every half hour or so I come to the park to make sure he's okay. He's probably getting a little tired of his mom checking on him all the time. I can't just sit there at home like I used to, more relaxed,” said Jennifer.
Police say this isn't the first time they have dealt with the accused offenders.
All four accused will appear in court next month.
(With files from Chris Epp)