Sunshine Coast girl speaks after torture at Tewantin home, video posted online
The 13-year-old girl, who was allegedly lured to a fake party by three teenage girls who then tortured her for hours, has spoken out.
The trio allegedly held the girl against her will and recorded the sickening attack on March 11 at a home in Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast.
They had befriended the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, weeks earlier before they reportedly invited her to the house where she was allegedly tied up, burned, stomped, bottles smashed over her face and knives thrown at her were thrown.
The girl’s mother claims that the alleged attackers showered her after the torture session, before letting her daughter clean up her own blood.
The three girls allegedly threatened to kill the victim’s family, including her three-year-old brother, if she told anyone what happened.
“When I saw her (after the incident) she tried to defend these girls by saying ‘they saved my life, I got jumped on my way to their house’… they guarded her so she couldn’t tell the truth, but I knew something wasn’t right,” the girl’s mother told the Courier Mail.
The victim told 7NEWS that she “didn’t even think” during the attack.
“I (didn’t) care what (they) had done to me. I just wanted to go home and see my brother and my mother.’
Meanwhile, the girl’s sister spoke on Thursday morning about her experience of getting a frantic phone call from her mother and then rushing to the hospital to see her sibling.
“I don’t know how much to say about this because it’s brutal, it’s absolutely brutal what happened and the way they baited her was sickening,” she told the Today show.
The three accused girls filmed part of the alleged attack and have been charged by Queensland Police (photo, images shared online after the incident)
The girl was hospitalized with a stab wound to her knee, burns, a broken wrist and a swollen face beyond recognition.
“Her face looked so swollen it was the size of a pumpkin where she couldn’t even look out of her eyes,” her sister said.
“It’s lessened now, like her body is healing and it’s just yeah, you know, physically she’s healing.”
“But it’s beyond shocking what they did to her…it broke our hearts.”
She said it was particularly heartbreaking because her sister had been so happy before the attack.
“It’s very hard because she had reached a point where she was really happy.
“We listened to some messages, voice messages, and she just sounded so happy and then this happened to her.”
She also described her shock when her mother called her for the first time.
“My mom called me at 7 a.m. and she was like, now come to the hospital and like on my drive there, I was like, oh my god, what happened?”
“My head was spinning and I got there, she was crying her eyes out, she was shaking, she could barely utter words.
“She told me what happened and it was like I couldn’t even believe it.”
The 13-year-old girl (left) pictured after the attack and in a video during her recovery (right)
She also thanked the community for supporting her family.
“She’s a very strong girl, very stubborn. She’s working on her recovery and she’s doing well.’
“We just got a lot of messages from a lot of people we don’t even know saying how they feel about this situation and sending her so much love.”
Police have charged three girls aged 12, 13 and 14 with multiple crimes, including assault with bodily harm, deprivation of liberty and armed robbery.
All three have been remanded in custody to appear before Maroochydore Children’s Court.
Police have called on people not to share any images or visions of the attack out of respect for the victim and to deny the notoriety of those involved.
Investigations are underway.