Father's question for those who forced autistic son to eat twigs: What's the matter with you?

The father of a boy with autism who was bullied and attacked and the footage put online says he wants people to think about how they would feel if it happened to them or their children.

Liam from Carrigaline in Co Cork was first made aware of the ordeal his son was put through when a young girl called to his door to tell him about it.

A group of other children had put sticks into his 15-year-old son's mouth and pulled down his trousers and underwear. They subsequently uploaded a video of the attack to facebook. It has since been removed.

Liam said that although his son did not tell him about the attack when it happened, he believes its left a mark.

"His view of the word is quite simplistic. His social interaction is quite diminished," he said. "People have called him names in the past and he's quite oblivious to that."

Liam pauses and says with obvious emotion: "But when I was told about this incident, I was told he was bawling crying, so I think he was aware that he didn’t like this."

In a separate interview with the Irish Independent, Liam said the question he wanted to ask his son's attackers was: "What is the matter with you?", and also how would they feel if this were done to them or someone they cared about.

"I'd like to ask them: Can you even begin to comprehend the effect it could have on you or your whole family?" he says.

Local shopkeeper John A Collins told the I

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“He is a very inoffensive young man. It’s a horrendous thing to happen. It’s bad enough that you could do that to anybody, but particularly bad to do it to a child not capable of defending himself,” said the Fine Gael councillor.