The mum of the 14-year-old who was attacked by the thugs has thanked Bobby Loveday of Southend’s Loveday’s Landscaping who ran over with two employees and scared off the group.
The boy has been left covered in bruises with a black eye and bruises on his face which kept him off school on yesterday, but the mum has praised Bobby as a “hero” for his intervention.
The attack happened on Rayleigh Road, Eastwood, at roughly 3.15pm on Tuesday.
She said: “If it wasn’t for Bobby and his two workers, I hate to think about what could have happened. I owe this man and, in all fairness, I have no idea how many people would jump in against four balaclava-wearing people.
“You have no idea what would have come of it and what they would have done, we rely on adults for this, and I don’t know who would have been willing to step in.
“I owe it to him for what he did to save my son, the details of what happened was horrible and heart-breaking, he is a hero in my eyes, and he wasn’t out to boost his business.
“My son is not naughty and bad and I don’t think there is anything he is doing that could have lead to this and I cannot find any links to anything.”
Though seemingly targeted, the mum and the victim are unsure what caused the four thugs to attack him or if the victim even knows their identities.
Bobby Loveday added: “I was disgusted, as a dad-of-three, to see what happened and I would expect someone, as a parent myself, to help.
“We scared them off, I thought about this kid screaming ‘help help’ and all we did with our workers was scare them away, we shouted and they saw we were bigger than them.
“I am glad he got back home and is not in the hospital, if it had carried on, he could have been.
“We heard the shouting and car horns while unloading the work truck. That was how we saw the group attacking one kid.”
Bobby added that the police have been made aware of the attack.