A TEENAGER was struck over the head with a metal bar by a man who accused him of kicking his fence. Nathan Joce, 16, from Princes Park, Chatham, had blood streaming down his face after the incident.

He had been playing with three friends in Shackleton Close when the man appeared. Nathan, a pupil of Greenacre School in Chatham, said he and his friends had not been near the fence.

Nathan said: "We saw someone walking towards us and at first I thought it was one of my mates. Then he came closer and he said: 'You've been kicking my fence'.

"I said I hadn't and then he just hit me on the head with the metal bar. It really hurt and I felt a ringing in my head and I was

on the ground. I struggled to get up but my legs felt like jelly. Even though I had gloves on, I could feel the blood coming through them.

"I walked to my mate's house and eventually I managed to get home. I staggered through the door and my mum screamed, because blood was gushing down my head."

The family took Nathan to hospital where doctors glued the wound on the side of his head. He has to rest for five days.

Police spoke to Nathan over the phone about the incident. The family said officers had arrested a local man but had released him on police bail without charge.

Nathan's sister Dione McCormack said: "My brother is a grade-A student. If he has done something wrong he would say so."