Four teenagers were playing basketball at Bathgate Park, South Dunedin, at 4.50pm on Wednesday when they were approached by another group of teenagers, a relative of one of the boys said.
Violence quickly ensued, and three of the boys had to watch their friend get beaten.
The group were armed with knives and a plank of wood taken from a nearby fence in Loyalty St, she said.
‘‘They begged them and said, ‘please leave him alone’, but they wouldn't listen, they kept beating him.
‘‘The other boys just had to stand there and watch.’’
One of the group offered the attacker money to leave his friend alone, but was rebuffed, she said.
She said it was incredibly sad that Dunedin teenagers could not even use a park without becoming victims of crime.
‘‘I was worried yesterday ... because what happens if my boys had interfered to help this wee poor boy? Since the knives were brought out ... it’s just no good.’’
Sergeant Matt Lee, of Dunedin, said a verbal argument broke out when the second group of boys approached the victim and his friends, and escalated when a 15-year-old began to throw multiple punches at the victim’s head.
He then began to kick him.
The perpetrator then threatened the victim - who was by then bleeding from his nose - with more physical harm before walking away with the group of friends he came with.
Police were called and officers located the perpetrator some time later.
He was arrested, held in police custody and charged with assault and speaking threateningly.
The teen appeared in the Dunedin Youth Court yesterday.
Police yesterday would not say whether a knife was present, as the matter was now before the court.
