A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy suffered a deep cut to his head after four teenagers fled from a restaurant without paying their bill.
The toddler, who received 12 butterfly stitches, was walking through Backnang Square, Chelmsford with his parents on Friday when the incident happened.
After allegedly skipping out on their £60 bill at the Wildwood restaurant, the group of 17-year-olds ran from the scene, with one of the group bumping into the little boy.
The boy's father, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: "Me and my wife and our son were in Chelmsford next to Argos when we heard someone shout and saw four youths running.
"They ran past us and both me and my wife turned around as we knew our son was next to us to pick him up but we weren't quick enough and one of the boys ran straight into him.
"He obviously didn't see my son and to be fair to him he did put his hands out to try and stop it, but he just ended up pushing my son over.
"They're only 17 and we've all been 17 and done dumb things, I'm sure if they'd known they would've injured a little boy they wouldn't have.
"The whole thing was a shock but we've been blown away by how brave my son's been.
"He's been incredible.
"And we really want to thank everyone who helped us.
"So many people stopped and rallied around.
"The restaurant manager called 999 and a lady sat with us for ages making phone calls.
"We're very grateful to everyone's help."
The group were later arrested and a boy from Colchester was charged with one count of making off without payment and also one count of using threatening behaviour to cause fear of unlawful violence against the three-year-old boy's father.
The court heard the dad had caught one of the suspects but let him go when he saw his son's injuries.
Another boy from Colchester was charged with one count of making off without payment and was released on police bail.
A third boy from Maldon was released on police bail pending further enquiries.
And a fourth boy from Stanway was charged with one count of making off without payment and one count of assault relating to the three-year-old boy's injury.
The 17-year-old from Stanway, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Chelmsford Magistrate's Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to both charges.
He was due to appear at Colchester's Youth Court yesterday (Wednesday) as the Chronicle went to press.
Defending the teenager, solicitor Bryony Clarke, told the court the 17-year-old's actions were 'foolish' and he deeply regretted his behaviour.
The little boy who will be left with a permanent scar is at home recovering.
His father added: "He's been so brave.
"One of the options was for him to have plastic surgery but we chose not to put him under general anaesthetic as the risks were too high as he's too little and he would be left scarred anyway.
"He'll always have a scar as quite a considerable chunk of his head was injured."
