Twelve-Year-Old Boy Hospitalised After Vicious Gang Assault on Dundee High Street
A twelve-year-old boy is reportedly "lucky to be alive" after a gang of teenagers launched a savage attack on him near the High Street in Dundee. Conner McGowan suffered significant injuries, including a swollen jaw and eye socket, cuts to his legs and head, and required stitches to his face following the brutal incident on Friday evening, March 20.
Mother's Harrowing Account of the Attack
According to his mother, Lori Roache, Conner was walking with two friends—a fourteen-year-old boy and a seventeen-year-old girl—through Dundee to return home to Springfield, Fife, when they encountered a group of approximately twenty youths. "The three of them were just minding their own business when they were approached by a gang of about twenty boys and girls," Roache explained. "The girl Conner was with was singled out by the crowd, so he stepped in and told them to leave her alone, and the three of them tried to leave the area."
The situation rapidly escalated, with Roache describing the attackers as turning into "a pack of animals" during the assault. She detailed that a subgroup of twelve boys, aged between fifteen and seventeen, surrounded Conner. "One of them held a knife up to Conner's face, and then another smashed a bottle over his head," she said. "Once he fell to the ground, they were on him like a pack of animals, punching him and stamping down on his head. He is really badly injured, but I am just glad he is alive. They could have very easily killed him by kicking his head like that."
Immediate Aftermath and Hospital Treatment
Conner was due home at 8:30 PM, but his phone had run out of battery, prompting his mother to drive around searching for him. While in the car, she received a message from one of Conner's friends alerting her to the attack. "After learning what happened, I was screaming and bawling the full way there and can barely even remember the twenty-minute drive," Roache recounted. She immediately raced to Dundee, collected her son, and took him to Ninewells Hospital for treatment.
The boy was treated and discharged in the early hours of the morning but remains extremely distressed by the ordeal. "He has to go back in a week to have the stitches removed and get more X-rays to check there is no lasting damage," Roache noted. "He was running on adrenaline last night, but it has hit home today how serious this is, and he is really traumatised. I am scared to let him out the house now. He'll obviously need to go back out one day, but I'll make sure he isn't straying far away like that ever again."
Police Investigation and Ongoing Enquiries
Police Scotland have confirmed they have launched a probe into the attack and are working to trace those involved. A spokesperson stated: "Around 9 PM on Friday, March 20, police received a report of a disturbance involving a group of youths in an alleyway, near the High Street, Dundee. Two males, aged twelve and fourteen, and a seventeen-year-old female were injured in the incident. Enquiries are ongoing to trace those involved."
Roache expressed her hope that the perpetrators will be apprehended, emphasising the severity of the crime. "These thugs who attacked him can't get away with it and need to be tracked down before they kill someone," she asserted. The incident has left the community shaken, highlighting concerns about youth violence and public safety in the area.
