Community rocked by death of teenager killed in bin
A community in South Australia has been left devastated following news of a 13-year-old boy being killed after a bin he and his two mates were sleeping in was picked up by a garbage truck.
New information regarding why the boys came to be inside the bin has just shown how tragic the circumstances were.
Spencer Benbolt Junior, 13, was asleep in an industrial bin in Port Lincoln early on Tuesday with two other boys – aged 11 and 12.
It began being emptied due to a scheduled collection.
One boy managed to escape injury by jumping out, but the other two children became trapped.
The 12-year-old boy who escaped immediately began to bang on the driver’s door to alert him of the tragedy, and emergency services were called to the Reoco car park just after 5.20am.
Spencer suffered serious injuries and sadly died at the scene.
The other boy was unharmed despite also being thrown into the truck.
The group of boys had been wandering around their town for hours in an effort to escape the rain and cold, the Daily Mail reports.
The trio stopped off at the nearby Grand Tasma Hotel to ask for water at about 12.30am.
The boys reportedly made it clear to the local pub goers that they had no intention on going home that night.
The group wandered to Port Lincoln’s industrial area where they reportedly tried to seek shelter at a McDonald.
They would then decide to crawl into the industrial bin for the night.
South Coast Local Service Area officer in charge Paul Bahr told reporters on Tuesday that the boys were not classified as homeless and had “places to stay … with beds they could sleep in”.
“We’re not aware of any reports of children sleeping in bins in Port Lincoln. This is the first time we’ve become aware of it,” he said.
“Port Lincoln has an issue with homelessness like every community and from time to time we do get rough sleepers (but) I’m not aware of children sleeping rough.”
The Department of Child Protection said the boy was not in state care.
On Tuesday Spencer’s aunty released a statement to Nine News on behalf of the family.
“Spencer always had a close relationship with his parents, brothers and grandmothers, who he loved and adored,” she read.
“He loved hunting, fishing, camping, was a cheeky boy who had a big imagination.”
It is believed Spencer, known as Budda to his friends and family, had been staying with friends recently.
Holly Puckridge, who was a friend of Spencer’s told 7News he had asked to “stay with us for a couple of days and we let him sleep over”.
Mother Jess Bettoncelli said her 12-year-old son often hung out with the group and would join them in sleeping outside services stations and at local sporting grounds.
“He’s very shaken up, he’s I think confused,” she told the outlet.
“He’s I guess wondering and suspecting that that could have been him last night.”
Superintendent Bahr said the two other boys involved in the incident have been left “traumatised” by what happened.
“The background as to how they’ve ended up in this industrial bin is something that’s really going to take some time to understand,” he said.
“It will be a strong part of the coronial investigation that we’ve begun.”
The truck driver was not aware the boys were inside the bin when he picked it up, and has been reportedly left “extremely shaken” by the incident.
Superintendent Bahr also said it was a “terrible event”.
“Dealing with a young child who is suffering significant trauma and not being able to save their life after a lot of effort has gone into attempting to revive him is going to be very difficult to them,” he said.
images: Supplied