Heroes

Bernard Carpinter at Stuff reports:

Three Hastings schoolboys rescued a 12-year-old girl by threatening to attack two men who were trying to drag her away.

“The other boys told them that if they didn’t go away right now they would get a hiding,” Hastings Boys’ High School pupil Liam Mataira, 15, said yesterday, describing the rescue he had made with friends Ben Hayllar and Tama McKenzie.

“We just jumped in front and pulled her away. The men were over six feet tall. I was taller than them, but they were quite stocky.

“They just started swearing. They looked like they had been taking drugs – they were all twitchy and stuff.

“It happened fast. They could have retaliated and attacked us, but we had to do something to get that girl away before something happened.” …

Ben, also 15, said the men had used language indicating that they were affiliated to the Mongrel Mob, but he had not felt scared.

“They towered over me but I just felt an adrenaline thing. It all happened at once. I told them to go away and leave her alone.”

I got such a warm glow when reading this story. Liam, Ben and Tama should be very proud of themselves, as should their parents.