judge called a "deliberate and vicious attack'', escaped going to prison yesterday.

The Devonshire teenagers pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court two weeks ago to causing bodily harm to the boy. But they were given the benefit of social inquiry reports before being sentenced.

Stephen Smith, 16, was given 12 months probation as recommended in the report.

However, Magistrate the Wor. John Judge said he felt Jeffrey Evans, 16, should be dealt with more harshly.

He ordered him to serve 75 hours of community service as an alternative to correctional training at the Co-Ed Facility.

"This was a deliberate and vicious revenge attack by two men on one, armed with a baseball bat. There was a worrying level of viciousness I would've hoped not to find in someone your age,'' Mr. Judge told Evans.

The court heard the two students had been walking in Smith's Parish near Specialty Inn at about 6 p.m. on March 3 when they saw their classmate.

Calling him names, they then started punching him in the stomach.

Evans took the fight a step further when he bashed the boy over the head with a wooden baseball bat, causing a wound which required three stitches.