Screen grabs of the moment when the gang descends on the father and daughter outside Charlestown Square shopping centre. On Tuesday afternoon, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the bashing and is expected to be dealt with under the Young Offenders Act. A bruised and battered Mr Racsits said on Tuesday that he knew he was in trouble as soon as he walked into Charlestown Square to pick up his daughter after she rang to say some girls wanted to assault her. There had been some trouble between Kiara and at least one girl before her daughter contacted him and centre security concerned she was going to be targeted. "When I got to the escalators and called her again to get out of the movie, there was only three girls at that point in time but I just had this feeling that those girls were part of the group," Mr Racsits said.

Tibor Racsits and daughter Kiara who were assaulted and robbed. Credit:Ryan Osland "And within 15 seconds, there was like 20 of them. I don't even know where they came from. "They must have been hiding. "I think it was a set-up, it was planned. "That was that many of them and they just swarmed and when I looked around I just thought 'Oh shit', there is going to be trouble here."

One youth took his shirt off and challenged Mr Racsits to fight, but when he refused and attempted to walk away, another younger boy stood in his path. As we went towards the stairs, I think the youngest one was facing me and went to push me and I pushed him out of the way to head to the car. "But as soon as I have pushed him out of the way, there was just kicks and punches from the side," Mr Racsits said. "It dragged on for about five to 10 metres but it got to a point where I was starting to get a bit dizzy from all the hits I was copping and I went down. "As I was going down I was just basically covering my head up and I actually grabbed one of the guys legs and bit him on the leg.

"It was the only thing I could do. "When he let go, the rest just followed because he was the oldest of them all." Mr Racsits said he escaped with some grazes and bruising and possibly a few cracked ribs from the kicks. He also had his car keys, phone and wallet taken. "It actually shocked me, the age of the kids. To how bad they are already at that age," he said.

"What hope have they got in five years' time?" Mr Racsits said he returned to Charlestown Square on Monday to cancel his cards and was again confronted by one of the youths he suspected of bashing him. He said he broke down on Monday because he felt he had not protected his daughter enough. "I felt like I failed as a parent, to protect my daughter," he said. "I broke down yesterday because I felt like I let her down but there was nothing I could do."

Emergency services were called and the group fled the scene. The father and daughter were treated at the scene for minor injuries. Officers attached to Lake Macquarie Local Area Command attended and commenced investigating the incident. As they continue their inquiries, any witnesses, or anyone with information is urged to come forward and contact police via Crime Stoppers. The Newcastle Herald