A 13-year-old girl was allegedly blindsided in a brutal and unprovoked attack while ordering food at an Auckland CBD restaurant.
Her mother said CCTV footage of the assault showed her being tossed around like a ”ragdoll” in a scene that left her friends shaken.
The young teen was allegedly punched repeatedly and pulled to the ground at the Britomart McDonald’s last week in broad daylight.
Her mother, Maia, told the Herald the alleged offenders took her daughter’s phone, reset it, and used it to contact Maia after the attack to mock, taunt and threaten her.
The high school student from Auckland’s North Shore was with a small group of friends in the fast food joint on Tuesday during the teacher strike.
“They went into McDonald’s, they were standing at the kiosk. My daughter had just paid for her meal,” Maia said.
“A girl came up to her, said to her, ‘What the F are you looking at?’ She said, ‘Nothing, I’m just paying for my meal’, and the girl just punched her straight in the face.”
She said the footage showed two girls who appeared to be involved in the assault of her daughter.
“On the initial punch, a guy has come in and gone, ‘Hey, hey.’
“As soon as he’s turned his back, the girls come charging back in at my daughter.
“And then hit her again, grabbed her hair, rag-dolled her around to the ground, dragged her on the ground a little bit, and then just took about eight punches straight to the head.”
Maia said her daughter’s friends, who were also in Year 9, were so scared they froze.
“At the very end [of the video] when my daughter’s on the ground, I can see her best friend coming in trying to pick her up, and she’s shaking and scared. They were terrified.”
Maia said her daughter dropped her phone during the incident, and the alleged offender ran off with it while her daughter was knocked out for a few seconds.
The McDonald’s manager pushed the panic button, and police arrived.
A McDonald’s New Zealand spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident at McDonald’s Britomart. Staff responded and followed protocols, contacting the police who responded quickly. We are assisting police with the investigation and our franchisee has followed up with the family of the customer involved.”
Police said they responded to a report of an assault at a Queen St location about 1.50pm on Tuesday last week.
Maia said her daughter’s friends alerted her to the attack. She realised how severe the incident was when her daughter couldn’t even speak.
“I dropped everything I was doing. I was at work at the time and just headed straight towards my daughter. I was very upset.”
Maia said her daughter has a concussion, is suffering headaches and is slurring her words.
“She’s very anxious, and it took us a long time to build her confidence in the first place, so she’s taken a big back step.”
Since the incident, she said the offenders have been contacting her and saying “Haha, your daughter got a hiding”, and “If I see you and your daughter out, I will smoke yous”, Maia said.
She said she was concerned that if the offenders spotted her at the mall, they would come after her.
Maia said her daughter is now looking into MMA training once her concussion has been given the all-clear.
The young girl’s mother said she hoped the offenders would be held accountable and that the consequences they faced would mark a turning point.
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