Weeks after a 12-year-old boy from Calmar was allegedly repeatedly assaulted by two older youths in a town southwest of Edmonton, the youths charged made their first court appearances in a Leduc courtroom Friday.

The pair was charged after a 12-year-old boy showed up at a gas station in Calmar at about 1 a.m. on October 30, suffering from serious injuries.

Someone called 911, and police and emergency crews rushed to the scene – the boy's injuries were so severe he was rushed to the Stollery Children's Hospital for immediate medical attention.

Just over two weeks later, Leduc RCMP laid charges against two older youths in connection to the assault, including assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement, sexual assault, and sexual interference.

The case has attracted a lot of attention from other residents of Calmar, and two women who grew up in the area and knew the victim and the accused were in court Friday to support the family of the victim.

"After the assault happened he went into FasGas and people actually thought he'd been struck by a vehicle on the highway," Jenny Oshiro, who was supporting the victim's family at the courthouse, said Friday. "They couldn't recognize his face."

"Never, ever would I expect it from around here, in this area," Amanda Newans, who was also supporting the family, said. "[I would never expect] that anything like that would happen to anybody."

CTV News spoke to the mother of the 12-year-old boy injured in the incident, she claims the accused teens lured her son to an apartment suite in Calmar, and forced him to drink alcohol.

She claims her son was burned, punched and cut repeatedly, and sexually assaulted during the vicious attack.

Her son reportedly escaped, and ran to the Calmar gas station where the 911 call was made.

The court appearances on Friday were the first for the accused since they were charged in mid-November for the attack.

The charges have yet to be proven in court, the pair are scheduled to appear in court again on January 13, when they will be asked to enter a plea.

With files from Susan Amerongen