Police probing vicious gang attack on girl captured on mobile phones
POLICE are investigating an incident in which a 13-yearold schoolgirl was filmed being trailed along the ground by her hair in a vicious attack at one of Northern Ireland’s most upmarket shopping centres.
The terrified teenager was set upon as she and a number of friends were walking through Victoria Square in Belfast city centre last weekend.
The footage, which has been viewed over 137,000 times online, shows up to six teenage girls attacking teenager Chloe Millar from north Belfast.
The minute-long horrific clip shows the teenage girls, some of whom look as young as 12 and 13, punching, kicking and pulling her hair.
A jeering crowd gathers around the group while others can be seen filming the fight on mobile phones.
The shocking scenes only stop when a security guard intervenes and escorts Chloe to safety.
Her aunt, Nicole Fluke said her niece was left with injuries to her back, head and sides of her legs.
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“I felt sick and I cried watching the video. I didn’t sleep that night it happened — I kept pacing up and down thinking about Chloe,” she said. “She has a scrape down her face and bruises on her
body and her head is also sore from when the group of thugs trailed her across the ground by the hair.
“She said it happened so quickly, that it got out of control and she couldn’t protect herself.”
The teenager, who attends Belfast Model girls’ school, was targeted on Sunday evening at around 7pm.
The family contacted police after the teenager arrived home with injuries and the video evidence emerged. Ms Fluke said she posted the video of the attack on Facebook in an attempt to raise awareness of the dangers young people are exposed to in the city centre.
“I want people to know how bad things can get when kids are in the town alone in the evening,” she added.
“Chloe keeps saying she is fine but when she got up one morning during the week she was being sick and couldn’t go to school and I’m not sure if it had to do with her nerves or because of the fight.
“It was a long attack — it looked like so many young girls were hitting her and the whole crowd jumped in to attack her.
“In one of the videos you can see her face and that’s the bit that really got to me — she is crying and looks so scared.
“If that happened to me I would be thinking when is this going to end and how will I get out of this. It would be very scary.”
She added: “People couldn’t believe it when they watched the video— I’ve had people sending me messages from as far as Wales saying they cried when watching it as they think it’s so bad.”
A spokesman for the PSNI said: “Police received a report of an assault at Victoria Square in Belfast on Sunday, February 19.
“It was reported that a teenage girl was assaulted by a number of youths at around 7pm.
“The girl suffered cuts and bruises as a result of the incident. Police are investigating and would ask anyone with any information to contact officers at Lisburn Road on 101.”