Ignoring violence against men?

Teens made boy, 15, eat own faeces
By Christine Kellett, Brisbane Times 30 Nov 2007

Two 13-year-old girls who forced an intellectually disabled boy
to eat his own faeces laughed and waved for television
cameras after walking free from a Brisbane court this afternoon.

The girls, who cannot be named under Queensland law
because they are juveniles, along with two boys aged 17
and 18 pleaded guilty today to assault charges over the
humiliating October 2006 attack at Mitchelton, north of
the city.

Their victim, a 15-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy,
was pelted with rocks, kicked and punched and eventually
taken to a house to be force-fed his own excrement in a
prolonged ordeal sparked, prosecutors said, because
the boy had looked the wrong way at one of his assailants'
little sisters.

The court heard the attack, committed while the two girls
brandished a metal bar, had caused significant pain and
humiliation to the boy, so much so that he could not face the
foursome at a youth justice conference to receive an apology.

The girls, who were just 12 at the time, were released today
on 12 months' probation, while their co-accused received
two years, including 120 hours' community service.

No criminal convictions were recorded.

Outside court, their victim's mother said the punishment was
not harsh enough.

The girls, however, smiled, giggled and waved for waiting
television cameras as they left the building.

Judge Milton Griffin expressed his disgust at their actions
throughout the sentencing hearing - and even hinted at jail -
but was forced to take into account the tender ages of the
group and their lack of previous criminal history.

"It was cowardice in the extreme the way that you behaved,"
the judge told them.

"These are extraordinarily serious circumstances."

Defence counsel for the youths said peer-group pressure
accounted for much of their actions, described at one point
as "just childhood play".

"It's pack mentality," Judge Griffin fired back.

"Perhaps the more terrifying that they were younger than others."