Boy, 11, scarred for life in video game revenge attack

AN 11-YEAR-OLD boy was scarred for life when a teenager set fire to his shirt in revenge for being beaten on a video game called Street Fighter, an Old Bailey court was told yesterday.

As the boy ran screaming for help, his 15-year-old attacker returned to playing the video machines. His victim faces years of treatment for the deep burns he suffered and counselling for the psychological damage.

Nicholas Hilliard, for the prosecution, said: 'He has been receiving therapy for the anxious state he has developed, not surprisingly, since this incident.'

The boy had gone with a friend to a shop in Wood Green, north London, to play the games. Suddenly he felt a 'terrible hot pain' and ran screaming for help. The court was told that he needed skin grafts and would have to wear a special surgical suit under his clothes for the next three years.

When police arrived other boys revealed they had seen the 15- year-old light the back of the boy's shirt saying it was because 'he had been killed on the machine' - meaning he had lost the Street Fighter game to the younger boy.

The boy, who cannot be named on the orders of Judge Henry Pownall, admitted causing grievous bodily harm in July this year and was remanded for reports.