Heartbreaking moment a young schoolgirl bashed by teens

The mother of a Brisbane teenager who was repeatedly bashed and kicked in the head in a shocking act of violence filmed near a major Brisbane shopping centre has spoken out as police formally identify those involved.

A Brisbane mother has told of her teenage daughter’s fear to attend school over alleged repeated bullying, as shocking video of the teen’s heartbreaking bashing has surfaced.

The footage shows the girl, aged 13, being beaten up in an alleyway outside Garden City Shopping Centre on Brisbane’s southside.

It was filmed about 4pm on Monday, July 12.

The teen, who cannot be named, was repeatedly bashed and kicked in the body and head by a group of four older girls from several secondary schools.

The assault of a 13-year-old schoolgirl caught on film.

As the teen suffers repeated blows, the video shows more than a dozen teens from varying schools watching and egging the group on.

The gut wrenching footage has prompted a response from the Department of Education.

“The department is aware of an alleged violent incident involving students from a number of

secondary schools, which occurred on Monday 12 July outside Garden City Shopping

Centre and outside of school hours,” the statement said.

“Bullying is not acceptable inside or outside the school gate and the students involved in the

incident are being dealt with in line with the schools’ Student Code of Conduct.

“Counselling and guidance support is also being provided to students affected by the

incident.”

Specialist police have formally identified the four teens involved in the harrowing alleged attack.

A statement from the Queensland Police Service this afternoon revealed officers are working from the footage to determine each of the teen’s roles in the incident.

“Detectives from Morningside Child Protection Investigation Unit are investigating an alleged assault perpetrated against a juvenile victim in Upper Mt Gravatt on Monday July 12,” the statement said.

“Detectives have seen video footage believed to depict the assault, and this vision is assisting with the investigation.

“At this time detectives have identified four juvenile persons of interest and inquiries are continuing to establish what involvement they may have had in the matter.”

The incident occurred near Garden City shopping centre.

None of the teens have been charged, however investigations are ongoing after a formal complaint was made to police earlier today.

The girl’s mother, who has chosen not to be named, told The Courier-Mail she was grateful police had handled the matter professionally.

“I feel really good that it’s been jumped on by police so quickly,” the woman said.

“But I shouldn’t have had to go to the media for the Education Department to do more.

“After spending the day with the police, I feel quite confident that they’ll take it seriously from now on.”

The brave woman said that although she wants the girls held accountable, she is also considerably concerned for their welfare.

“Of course I want these girls to be held to account, they need to be,” she said.

“But they also need to be counselled - to behave like that, they’re not okay. And as a mother I’m concerned for the wellbeing of those girls moving on into the world like I’m worried about my daughter moving on into the world.”

The woman said her young daughter - who suffered a concussion, swelling to her head, a split lip, bloodied nose and multiple bruises to her head and body - was in relatively good spirits today after an outpouring of support from the community.

“She’s a little bit uplifted from all the support from the community,” the girl’s mother said.

“We had a lady standing at the gate just now with flowers and chocolates and messages of support telling her to keep going, so that’s helping.

“But honestly, we had a rough night last night... She was just rocking on my bed having flashbacks. She was traumatised from the noise of the screaming and yelling. She was on my bed saying “stop yelling at me, stop yelling at me, stop yelling at me,”... There wasn’t any yelling.”

A young girl has been the subject of assaults by other students.

Instead of focusing on the unfathomable heartache of watching her daughter being brutally attacked in a video - the mother said she’s pushing for clearer guidelines for bullies and victims of bullying.

Both her and her daughter are determined to stop others from going through the physical and emotional trauma at the hands of bullies.

“It’s about untying the hands of the schools and allowing the schools to discipline these bullies,” the mother said.

“I want the schools to be able to have the freedom to know what the consequences are- clear black and white consequences. They need to be able to say: ‘well this is level 1 bullying, this is level 2 or level 3 - whatever it may be, the consequences need to be clear.

“To me, it’s not as much about getting the consequence delivered to those girls, but more so pushing for some change.

“Bullying has just got to stop. It’s enough. It’s heartbreaking. Children can’t go to school without the fear of violence or intimidation or hating themselves because they’re told how ugly they are every day.”

The brave teen girl is also focussed on putting a stop to teen bullying, her mother said.

“She’s really keen at the moment to make a difference for other kids being bullied and she wants to focus on that - to make sure it doesn’t happen to other kids,” the woman said.

“She wants to fight that fight so we can make some changes for all the other kids going through it, so they won’t have to go through it again.

“That’s the end game.”