DEVON and Cornwall Police say seven teenagers have now been bailed, with strict conditions, in connection with the alleged assault at the weekend on a homeless man in a Truro multi-storey car park.
A statement from the force states: “Police continue to investigate a serious assault on a man in Truro which occurred in the Moorfield car park at between approximately 10am and 10.15am on Saturday, February 12.
The Police inspector for the Truro Sector, Inspector Wheeler, said: “As part pf our investigation, seven teenagers in total were arrested in connection to the assault in Moorfield Carpark; all have since been released on police bail until Monday, March 7, with strict conditions, which includes curfews and location bans.
“One of the group has been remanded in custody for breach of previous bail conditions, and will appear in Youth Court today (Tuesday, February 15).
“There has been a lot of rumour and speculation online in relation to this matter, and we wish to reassure the public that our victim is safe and well.
“Due to the age of the suspects, we have been working – and will continue to work – with the Youth Offending Team and other key partners in relation to this matter both during the investigation and byond.
“This incident and subsequent footage forms part of a live and active police investigation; therefore we ask that the public and media no longer publish or share footage of this incident both to allow the investigation to take place without interference, and ultimately to protect our victim.”
Inspector Wheeler added: “Truro and the surrounding areas remain safe places to live and visit, but incidents like this, which are fortunately quite rare, understandably cause concern to our public.
“I am hopeful that our robust and prompt response to this matter has helped reassure the public that we take our role in combatting anti-social behaviour seriously.
“Improving community safety takes for all of us to work together, which is why we continue to work closely with the Safer Truro Partnership and regularly meet with key partners, such as the Council, the Mayor and others to discuss concerns and review how effective our joint activity and plans are.
“We will, of course, continue to work with partners, and one of our key priorities will remain reducing anti-social behaviour and keeping Truro safe.”
Anyone with information on the alleged incident who has yet to have contacted the police is asked to contact [email protected] quoting log 973 12 February.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the concerns raised by the alleged incident, MP for Truro and Falmouth Cherilyn Macrory said: "I had a really productive meeting with our local police and various agencies looking at the anti-social behaviour issue in Truro, particularly in the light of the disturbing incident from the weekend. We all agreed that now is the time for action. Thank you to our police for taking swift action and arresting those people identified in the video of the incident.
"I can assure the people who live and work in Truro that there will be a targeted and robust approach to tackling with the spate in crime and anti-social behaviour.
"Tackling anti-social behaviour in Truro has now been made a strategic priority for the police force and we will get additional resource to tackle this.
The biggest issue at the minute in Truro is a very small minority of youths. As well as action from the police, there needs to be more youth provision in Truro to get the youths causing the issues off the street.
All our focus on now is on de-escalating the issues in Truro and making people feel safe and ensuring Truro remains a safe place to live, work and grow up in."