A man has been hospitalised after he was allegedly assaulted by a group of youths at a Glenorchy shopping centre yesterday evening.
The incident occurred around 5:45pm on Wednesday when the victim became caught in a verbal altercation between several youths inside the Northgate shopping centre.
The man tried to leave the centre and headed toward his car, before 12 to 15 teenagers understood to be younger than 15 allegedly chased him into the underground car park and assaulted him.
“He tried to get away by going back up to the centre and they caught up to him in the food court,” the victim’s sibling posted on social media.
“He’s been punched and kicked multiple times, one of his front teeth has been broken and goodness knows what other injuries yet.”
Another witness claimed the youths tried to steal the mans belongings before punching him “repeatedly” in the mouth, nose and head.
“His glasses were smashed into his face. He was turned towards them holding his palms up asking them to stop and telling them he didn’t have any issue. They kept picking and swearing,” they said.
“The amount of people who just stood there or filmed it or kept walking was crazy.”
Police say the victim received non-life threatening injuries, with the matter currently under investigation.
“Police would like to hear from anyone with information about the youths involved,” a spokesperson said.
The assault comes just days after a separate incident where 15 to 20 youths reportedly stormed the Glenorchy Big W twice in one day, intimidating staff and customers.
Police Minister Felix Ellis expressed outrage following the Big W incident.
“There is absolutely no excuse for this in our community,” Ellis said. “Tasmanians deserve to not only feel safe, but be safe when they are going about their business.”
Police say there is “no identified link” between the incident at Northgate and the incident at Big W at this stage.
