West Midlands Police: Teenage robbers latest victim had his eye gouged

September 25, 2012, 7:15 am

A TEEN WHO robbed a lad’s phone and gouged his victim’s eye when he refused to hand over his property is being sought by police.

The suspect, captured on camera, is wanted in connection with a robbery which happened on the 905 bus as it travelled from the city centre through Gravelly Hill in Erdington earlier this month.

It is alleged that between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on Sunday 9 September a 15-year-old lad was sat on the bus when the older lad came and sat by him, smashed his head on the seat in front and demanded his property.

View full article on Crime And Justice

When the victim – from Selly Park – refused, his attacker gouged his eye and stole his Blackberry Curve mobile phone and £5 in cash before jumping off the bus.

The suspected mugger is also wanted in connection with a number of knifepoint robberies which happened around the same time in the same area.

Just two days after the first attack, it is alleged that just before 11pm the lad threatened a 17-year-old boy with a knife on the top deck of the 904 bus stealing his mobile and some cash. Again, the attacker got off the bus in Gravelly Hill.

In the final attack on 13 September, the lad is captured on camera frogmarching another teen, who had just got off the 904 bus in Gravelly Hill, to a cashpoint at a petrol station on Tyburn Road. There, it is claimed that the victim was forced to withdraw £150 and hand it over to his attacker along a packet of cigarettes.

Detective Constable Richard Noyes, from Sutton Coldfield police station, is leading the investigation. He said: “Crime is down on the region’s bus network and we are keen to quickly identify the lad captured on camera with the aim of restoring normality to bus services in the area.