The father of the autistic boy who was the target of cruel and dehumanizing abuse has spoken out for the first time.
In tears, he said that he would ask the people who treated his son in such despicable manner ‘What is the matter with you.’
The incident took place in Carrigaline, Co. Cork, a few days ago. A gang of teenagers forced an autistic boy to eat twigs and then pull down his pants and expose himself. They captured footage of the abuse and then uploaded it to Facebook. Such footage has since been removed.
The sickening incident might just have gone undetected, had it not been for a girl who saw it in Facebook and called to the family home to report it. The bullies had threatened the boy not to tell anyone.
Speaking with tears streaming down his face, the boy’s father revealed what he would say to the bullies and their parents.
He said: “One thing I would say to them is ‘how would you feel if someone did that to you? How would you feel if they did that to your brother? Can you even begin to comprehend the affect you’ve had, not just on him but the whole family?’
“What’s so wrong with their children that they think in some warped way, think this is entertaining or funny? You need to take a good look at your children, you need to sit down and talk to them.’
He has since reported the incident to the Gardai.