We bashed Blake.....

[Jim Goose]

Following on from the Animal Cruelty thread, as it was mentioned in there

For those who didnt see it on the news :

Flood hero's brother bashed and bullied
Rachel Olding
April 8, 2011

Blake Rice ... has a broken collarbone.

Blake Rice ... has a broken collarbone. Photo: Jacky Ghossein

THE brother of the Queensland flood hero Jordan Rice has been bullied and bashed by other youths apparently because of the media attention his family has received after the disaster.

Ten-year-old Blake Rice's mother, Donna, and brother, Jordan, were swept to their deaths in the flash flood that swamped Toowoomba on January 10. Jordan, 13, was hailed a hero after he told rescuers to save his brother first.

Blake's father, John Tyson, told the general manager of Lifeline Darling Downs, Derek Tuffield, that his son was assaulted by up to six youths last weekend at a skate park in Toowoomba. The youths reportedly bashed Blake with sticks, leaving him with a broken collarbone. They then created a Facebook page titled ''We bashed Blake Rice''.


Mr Tuffield said the family has been repeatedly harassed, bullied, abused and picked on since the floods.

''John wants to relocate now from Toowoomba to the Gold Coast. He believes he can no longer stay in Toowoomba. He needs to move on and what happened on the weekend was the last straw,'' he said.

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, visited Toowoomba on Tuesday and met flood victims, including Mr Tyson and Blake, who wore a sling for his broken collarbone. They also met Prince William on his tour of cyclone- and flood-affected communities last month.

A family friend, Debbie Anderson, told the Toowoomba Chronicle that certain members of the community had ''laughed in our face about Jordan's death''.

Toowoomba is a conservative town by nature, Mr Tuffield said, and something akin to ''tall poppy syndrome'' had caused some in the community to react negatively to people who had received ongoing media attention over the loss of loved ones.

''Words can't describe how embarrassed we are as a community here that this son has been assaulted,'' he said.

''These people are really good people. I can't imagine what goes through some people's minds to make prank calls and assault them.

''Overall, Toowoomba people are … horrified by what's happened to this family.''

The mayor of Toowoomba, Peter Taylor, said the attack was ''absolutely appalling''. Queensland Police would not comment on any investigation.

Seriously what the hell is wrong with these kids to bash up a child whos family has suffered so much and then laugh about it????