Stock image by Josh Casey
A 17-year-old girl is recovering from a vicious attack that left her with stitches and awaiting surgery, while London police search for two 14-year-old suspects.
Police say around 6:20 p.m. Tuesday, 17-year-old Rebecca Taylor was assaulted by a 14-year-old girl at White Oaks Mall in the Ardene Store.
When the friend of the victim tried to intervene, she was assaulted by another 14-year-old girl.
“We were walking, me and my friend, and we wanted to enter a store and my friend is not exactly one that would want to necessarily be on camera, and she saw this girl was recording so she said, ‘Hey, can you stop recording?” said the one of the victim’s, Rebecca Taylor.
“They just didn’t stop though, and continued to antagonize her. I tried to step in when they began attacking my friend, but the girl just kept kicking and punching me, not caring if I was alive or dead. That’s what hurt the most, that they’re fourteen and have no morals,” she said.
WARNING: Below is an Image of Rebecca Taylor. This image can be considered as disturbing.
Cellphone video shows a girl in a winter jacket walk towards Taylor and grab her from behind. The two end up on the floor and a girl in a purple shirt runs towards them before moving towards the person filming. Taylor can be seen on the floor while a girl in purple repeatedly hits her in the head, gets up, kicks her in the head, and walks away.
“Girls shouldn’t hurt girls, we should stand up for each other. With all the women’s rights movements going on in the world, the fact that my friend can’t walk through a mall without feeling comfortable and then have someone attack her because we asked them to stop recording her, that’s disturbing,” said Taylor.
Taylor told XFM news that nobody in the store intervened, but her friend did call Taylor’s mother. her Mother reached out to security, who got to the scene and called an ambulance.
“When the suspects see someone that they’re close to get hurt, I hope they think of me. I hope they think of the pain they put me through, while I was on the floor, taking kicks and punches to the face,” said Taylor.
London police say the have been able to identify the two 14-year-old suspects, but have not been able to locate them.
One of the girls has been charged with assault causing bodily harm and the other with assault, and assault with a weapon.
Neither will be publicly named in order to comply with the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
