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Mum encouraged daughter to assault girl

A mother filmed her daughter's brutal assault of a shy and vulnerable teenager while advising her to "smash", kick and punch the victim.

Footage of the assault, posted on her daughter's MySpace page, was played to the County Court in Melbourne on Tuesday.

It showed the 16-year-old victim being punched, kicked and hit by the woman's 14-year-old daughter and her friend, 13.

The mother eggs the pair on, telling her daughter to "smash her" and "punch her in the face".

"Put your toes up when you kick her," she says, along with "You can do better than that".

The mother and two other teenagers, aged 15 and 16, watch and film the 30-minute ordeal on mobile phones and a video camera.

During the assault, the victim was kicked, punched and hit with sticks. Her hair was pulled and her head slammed on the ground.

The footage shows her bloodied face as she cowers on the ground, terrified.

She is crying, pleading with her attackers to stop.

A neighbour who heard her screams came to her aid.

She was left with 38 bruises, a swollen eye and scratches to her face and body.

The court was told the victim went to the same school as her attackers and was regularly bullied because of her shyness and intellectual impairment.

On the day she was assaulted in January, the mother had consumed a lot of alcohol and had given some to her daughter and friends.

The mother then encouraged the teenagers to lure the girl to a western suburbs park on the premise they would be her friend.

But when they arrived at the park the victim became scared as her attackers circled her, taunting her with abuse.

She was robbed of $30 and her mobile phone.

The mother, 41, pleaded guilty to affray and recklessly causing serious injury.

Her defence lawyer Karl Brandon said she had abused alcohol from a young age and was drunk when the attack happened.

He said she was very immature but had no history of violence.

She had stopped drinking and Victorian authorities had removed her daughter from her custody.

Mr Brandon asked the judge to impose a community-based order rather than jailing her.

But prosecutor Andrew Grant said she deserved jail for aiding and abetting the attacks.

"She was the only person there with that kind of power as an adult to stop the assaults and she didn't do it," he said.

Judge Frank Shelton ordered the mother be assessed for a community-based order.

She was bailed to reappear in court for sentencing on Thursday.

The teenagers involved in the attack have already been sentenced in the Children's Court.

They received penalties ranging from being placed on probation without conviction to youth supervision orders.

Source

Posted in: News on December 8, 2009 @ 9:43 PM

Tags: Parents, Society, Stupid

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