Three more youths charged over alleged filming of seven-year-old assault

A 13-year-old girl has been charged with assault and police have confirmed three further youths have been charged over filming the alleged attack and distributing the video online.

THREE more youths have been charged with making or distributing child exploitation material in the wake of a horrific video of a seven-year-old being brutally assaulted in a Smithfield Park.

Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit detectives previously charged a 13-year-old girl with one count of assault occasioning bodily harm over the March 26 incident

A Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit officer in charge Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Gooiker said three further young people had been dealt with under the provisions of the Justice Act in relation to making or distributing child exploitation material.

“We’re asking people not to continue sharing the video, it is causing the victim’s family trauma,” he said.

And there are signals of vigilante action.

“A number of people have taken things in to their own hands,” Det Gooiker said.

“There’s a number of comments on social media relating to the possible address of the child’s that’s been charged – we’d ask police to do their job, speculation does not assist the investigation.

“We are concerned because some of the addresses, they’re not involved at all,” he said.

“We are working with the Esafety commissioner and our electronic intelligence section to speak with social media platforms to have concerning material removed, and again, we’re asking people to let their police do their job,” Det Gooiker said.

He said people could provide information to Crimestoppers on 131 444.

A park outing allegedly turned horrendous for a seven-year-old who was allegedly assaulted with the attack filmed and posted online.

The mother of the alleged victim said she had been the target of online trolls blaming her for the shocking attack.

She said she had received “disgusting backlash”.

“People were commenting saying it’s all our fault for sending our seven-year-old to a park,” she said.

“They were saying we’re horrible parents for not supervising her and going with her.

“We’ve been doing it for years and these people online don’t know how close we are to the park, and honestly she’s a kid, they don’t know any of the details,” she said.

Three more youths have been charged over an incident in which a seven-year-old girl was allegedly brutally assaulted while other youths filmed and distributed the video online.

The mother said she felt scared to let her children outside of her home.

“We feel like we’re trapped,” she said.

“We are just begging people to stop sharing the video because in all honesty I think everyone has seen it.

She said her daughter was traumatised.

“My daughter can’t walk past the park anymore,” she said.

“And we are hurting so much, I feel like I can’t even grocery shop without someone adding their opinion or stopping me, or worse … showing that video again.”

A Queensland police spokeswoman said police were working through the material to identify the other young people involved in both the making of and the distribution of the material.

“Queensland Police are working with the office of the eSafety Commissioner to remove the content in question and the continuing sharing of the material is causing considerable distress to the victim child’s family,” she said.

“We also encourage anyone to report serious online abuse to the platform it appears on, to Queensland Police or to eSafety.gov.au, so it can be taken down.”

Originally published as Three more youths charged over alleged filming of seven-year-old assault