Teenagers 'terrorised' Muslim community in town
A gang of teenagers terrorised a town's Muslim community, attacking two elderly men and an eight-year-old boy, a court heard.
Five teenagers are accused of being involved in an eight-day racially-motivated crime spree in Cradley Heath.
The five, all aged 15 and 16 and who all live in the Sandwell area, are facing varying racially-aggravated charges following four incidents in Cradley Heath and Old Hill in October last year.
Prosecuting solicitor Miss Rachael Ward told Sandwell Youth Court yesterday that the spree included assaults on an eight-year-old boy and two elderly men, all of whom were Muslim, as well as the damage to a car belonging to a Muslim man.
In the first incident, on October 16, a 68-year-old Muslim man was verbally abused by a group of four males before being hit by one of them while walking at the corner of Trinity Street and Lawrence Lane.
Giving evidence through an interpreter at court yesterday he said: "First they swore at me, then they tried to hit me. I don't know which part of my body was touched by their hands, but I then sat down.
