20-year-old Matthew Henson, who was brutally beaten for his shoes at Stirling rail station, part of eshay youth subculture

The 20-year-old bashed senseless at Stirling train station before having his shoes stolen by five Churchlands Senior High School students is part of the growing “eshay” youth subculture. Eshays or esh-lads — much like their chav equivalents in the UK — wear sports clotheswear brands such as Nautica, Nike, Adidas and Fila, and prize their flashy basketball trainers. They like hip-hop, hang around skate parks and some — though not all — embrace gang culture. Matthew Henson proudly displays the eshay look in his social media posts. And in one post, a friend refers to him as the “Eshay Overlord”. It is believed the vicious assault on Mr Henson started because the group wanted his expensive shoes. Mr Henson remains in an induced coma in intensive care at Royal Perth Hospital, in a critical but stable condition. Mirrabooka detectives investigating the daylight attack on Thursday afternoon have not commented on whether his assailants belonged to a rival group. The five youths, aged 14 to 16, have been charged with aggravated robbery and acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm. They were wearing their Churchlands school uniforms at the time of the incident. Detectives are keen to get information on “some type of incident on a bus travelling to (Stirling) station, prior to the assault” which may be linked to it. They were on bus 998, travelling from Nedlands to Stirling Station. There is no suggestion that Mr Henson, who formerly attended Willetton Senior High School, did anything wrong or did anything to provoke the cowardly attack. One of the group allegedly ran up from behind and fly-kicked him in the back, causing Mr Henson to fall to the ground. Five of the six teenagers then allegedly kicked and stamped on the defenceless victim, including his head, as he lay helpless on the ground. The incident happened when the assailants should have been at school. Violent robberies of sports shoes are reportedly a growing phenomenon, both in Australia and overseas. In February last year, a young boy in Mandurah was robbed of his shoes by three other youths. He was targeted on a bus then followed to Rushton Oval where he was punched and robbed. Witnesses managed to get the shoes back for the victim. In September 2017, two boys aged 13 and 14 were walking to the entrance of McDonald’s on Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, when they were mobbed by a group of 10 to 15 youths. One of the boys was thrown to the ground and kicked before having his shoes and mobile phone stolen. Churchlands Senior High School has not yet commented on Thursday’s incident or indicated what action it will take. The school was ranked fourth in WA’s Top 50 School list. Mr Henson’s mother declined to talk to the media yesterday. On Friday she said her focus was on getting her son “back to full health as soon as possible”.