A TEENAGER was traumatised after being attacked for his phone outside a shopping centre.

But now he is smiling again after the community rallied to raise money for a new one.

Police were called after 14-year-old Frankie, from Portslade, was punched in the face outside Metrobank at Churchill Square.

The group of three singled him out after he had left his friends in North Street and walked towards the bus stop. But as he was on the phone to his mum Lisa, they shouted at him and demanded he hand over his phone.

After getting his phone, the gang walked off, before realising the phone they had snatched also had a bank card attached. So they approached Frankie again and marched him to a cashpoint, only to find he had less than £10 in his account.

The story was reported in The Argus and was seen by members of the Buzz off Boundary Facebook page, who decided to raise money to get Frankie a new phone.

Frankie said: “I was on the phone to my mum, and heard someone shout at me. There were three people.

“They asked me where I was from, I said Portslade. They asked if I had anything on me, I said no, and they punched me in the face. Got to give me you phone.

“I was traumatised when it happened, I was upset.”

He was left in tears and in shock at the attack, and mum Lisa had heard it unfold on the phone. She said: “I just had that feeling all day, I don’t normally let him go into town. I called him every hour on the phone, constantly, I just knew something would happen that day.

“They are cowards, three of them picking on a young boy just trying to get home. It is shocking.”

Frankie had been out with friends and was about to take the bus home on October 26.

Lisa said Frankie eventually arrived home in a police car an hour late, and learned what had happened. She said: “What also shocked me was that nobody outside Churchill Square stopped to help, apart from a nurse at his bus stop. Everyone just has their heads in their phones these days, no one cared about a boy crying and asking for help.”

Following the incident, Buzz off Boundary stepped in to help, and at the weekend David Drake met up with Lisa and Frankie to hand over the new phone. Together the group raised £353.

Mr Drake said: “The response was phenomenal, we well exceeded our target.”

It is the third type of donation that has been set up by the group, which has also helped buy a boy a new bike, replace a stolen watch, and donated to the Chestnut Tree House charity.

In total the group have raised £3,500 to help others.

Frankie said he was pleased with the new iPhone, while Lisa said: “It has been amazing.

“Most people who have kids think about your own child when something like that happens.”

They also plan to say “thank you” to the nurse who stopped to help Frankie at the bus stop at Churchill Square.

After the incident on Saturday, October 26, police said two youngsters were arrested on suspicion of assault and robbery.