By XAVIER SMERDON
OUTRAGED Wyndham residents and shoppers have reported seeing a young child be beaten in public by a woman believed to be his grandmother.
Star received several calls from angry residents last week that all said they had been in the Hoppers Crossing department store at around 11.30am last Tuesday when a woman started verbally and physically abusing a young boy.
One witness told Star the woman, who identified herself as the boy’s grandmother, started yelling at the boy when he asked for a lolly near the checkout isle of the store.
“He would have only been four-years-old and she kept screaming at him and telling him to ‘shut up’ and then she started grabbing him and spanking him in front of everybody,” the witness said.
“She was hitting him so hard and grabbing him and shaking him by his arm.
“He was crying because obviously he was in pain. His little arm looked like it was going to snap off like a chicken wing.”
One shopper told Star that he had complained to staff at the store who had told him there was nothing they could do while another witness said she had confronted the lady about her actions.
“No one has got a right to hit a child like that. It went on for about 15 minutes,” she said.
“I thought it was disgusting and I was shaking I was so angry.
“I said to her if you are going to hit someone, hit someone your own size and she just told me it was none of my business.”
The witness said she would be making a formal complaint to the store manager after staff failed to act on the issue.
