A PAIR of passers-by have been hailed as heroes after coming to the rescue of a cornered service station worker being attacked by a group of youths in Hermit Park.
A frightened nightshift worker at the United service station on Charters Towers Rd was set upon by a group of three young boys about 8pm on Sunday.
The worker, who did not wish to be named, said the violent attack ensued after he confronted the kids for stealing something from one of the aisles.
“I told them to leave, and they began attacking and throwing things at me,” he said.
“Luckily, some people came to help me, and the kids ran away.
“Things like this happen regularly. People are always stealing.”
Townsville resident Timena Nona and her partner came to the worker’s rescue after they spotted the three boys wearing big jumpers and acting ‘suspiciously’ while parked nearby.
“We heard someone call out, and that’s when we saw these three boys in the servo physically attacking the poor fella who works there,” she said.
“He was standing there trying to defend himself, and the boys were surrounding him.
“One of them was hitting him with a milk crate, and the others were yelling and swearing at him.”
Ms Nona said she sped her car over to the entrance of the service station with the lights on high beam and horn blaring in an effort to scare the youths off.
“I went straight at them and they backed off,” she said.
“I reckon if we didn’t intervene when we did, that poor man would have been injured a lot worse than he was. He was all alone and outnumbered.
“The one with the crate ran off, and the other two were a bit slower to leave. They didn’t seem to care if they got caught.
“It was sad because one of the boys looked like he was just 12. He should’ve been with his parents.”
Extracted from Townsville Bulletin