A gang of young men and women has brutally assaulted a 12-year-old boy and a 26-year-old man in Riihimäki on successive nights this week. In police interrogations, the perpetrators have not been able to give any reason for their bloody acts of violence.
      ”One has come up with an idea that let’s punch someone, after which the situation seems to have got out of hand completely and blind violence has been going on and on. There is something weird in this gang”, notes Inspector Ilkka Iivari.
     
According to the police, a gang of six young offenders assaulted a 12-year-old boy on the night before Tuesday in an apartment in the centre of Riihimäki.
      The victim was beaten up and severely injured by hitting and kicking, while his hands were slashed with a knife. After the lengthy battery, the assaulters taped the boy’s eyes, leading him onto the yard, where they continued to assault their victim by kicking him.
      The victim’s nose was broken, his eyes were swollen shut, and he had bruises all over the body and cuts to his hands.
     
On the following night, a 26-year-old man became the victim of the young assaulters in the same apartment. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was hit repeatedly with a hammer, an iron chain and fists. His hands were also slashed.
      After the lengthy assault, the man eventually managed to escape from the apartment.
      The man’s nose was apparently broken, too. In addition, he had plenty of bruises on his head and possible facial bone fractures.
     
The police say that four of the six assaulters aged 15 to 26 are minors. Two of them are girls.
      One of the young perpetrators comes from Hyvinkää, while the others live in Riihimäki.
      All six young offenders are suspected of having participated in the acts of violence.
     
The police are proposing that all six members of the gang should be remanded in custody on suspicion of aggravated deprivation of liberty and aggravated assault. The latter designation of a crime could be replaced by attempted manslaughter.
      The police report that some of the perpetrators knew their victims before the assault. Iivari regards it likely that the young suspects were intoxicated at the time of the crime.
      Some of the young offenders have been guilty of violent crimes even earlier. They have for example beaten up people in front of restaurants.