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Teens get conditional discharge for hazing

LETHBRIDGE — Two high school students pleaded guilty for hitting younger students with a goalie stick and skateboard as part of an initiation ritual.

LETHBRIDGE — Two high school students pleaded guilty for hitting younger students with a goalie stick and skateboard as part of an initiation ritual.

The two boys, who can’t be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were handed conditional discharges, which do not result in criminal records.

However, both were also put on probation for a year and prohibited from possessing weapons.

The assaults happened on July 6 and July 19, 2010, and the victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, suffered injuries included bruising and cuts.

One of the boys, who faced a single charge of assault with a weapon, was also ordered to perform 30 hours of community service.

The other boy was charged with three counts of assault with a weapon and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.

Crown prosecutor Erin Olsen said both approached younger boys near a junior high and told them they had to be paddled.

Using a board from a wooden pallet, the first boy struck one of the teens once, but not hard enough to inflict serious injury.

The co-accused struck two of the boys with a skateboard — the wheels and trucks had been removed — then later he struck a third person, who sustained bruises to his buttocks.

Court heard both accused had been subject to similar initiations when they started high school, but that didn’t cut any ice with Judge Gregory Maxwell.

“You, of anybody, ought to know that it’s wrong,” he told one of the accused.