Two teenaged boys appeared in court Monday, and both entered guilty pleas to charges they face in connection to the assault of a younger boy in Calmar more than a year ago.

It’s a move the mother of the young victim was happy to hear Monday, as it meant her son would not have to relive the events of the previous fall.

“For him to have to talk about the things that happened to him personally,” The victim’s mother said outside of the Leduc Law Courts Monday. “I think it would’ve been pretty hard.”

In October 2011, her then-12-year-old son sought refuge in a Calmar gas station – and said he had been beaten and forced to drink alcohol, he was then rushed to hospital.

The victim cannot be identified. The mother, who also can’t be identified to protect her son’s identity, said her son was tortured when he went to an older boy’s house to watch TV.

She said her son was threatened if he didn’t drink some alcohol.

In an agreed statement of facts, the Crown stated the victim complied, and consumed as many as a dozen shots of vodka – but he was beaten, burned with a lighter and some of hair was shaved off.

The boy managed to escape, before running to the nearby gas station for help.

“If he hadn’t gotten away at that time, it could’ve escalated to who knows what,” The mother said.

Police investigated and the two teens, aged 13 and 14 at the time were charged.

The teens appeared in a Leduc courtroom Monday – one pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and criminal harassment, the other pleaded guilty to assault.

Court heard the second teen had less to do with the beating, as he had arrived later in the night.

“I can forgive him because when he was just showing up he looked kind of worried,” The victim told CTV News outside of court Monday.

Now, the victim said he just wants to move on with life.

“I just do everything I can not to think about it,” The boy said.

Since the assaults, the victim’s family has left Calmar; the mother said her son goes to a new school, where she said he’s made good friends.

“That was a big help,” The mother said. “Not having to walk down the same streets and remember everything.”

Those teens will be sentenced in February.

With files from Susan Amerongen