Girl, age 14 subjected to racist abuse
GARDAI are investigating after a teenaged schoolgirl was racially abused in Wexford town. The 14-year-old’s mother said her daughter was verbally abused by a group of teenagers, both boys and girls, who called her ‘ISIS’ and shouted ‘Allah Akbhar, Go Back To Your Country’.
She said her daughter was now too scared to go into Wexford town without an adult in case there was a repeat of the incident, which she said happened ‘ because of the colour of her skin.’
‘She hasn’t gone out to town since it happened,’ said the woman.
The schoolgirl, who was with three friends at the time of the incident, is Irish-born, Ireland is her home and has lived in Wexford with her family for the past 10 years.
‘What if she was alone? I’m scared about what might happen,’ she said.
‘(Is) it a beginning of something worse in Wexford that our African-Irish Kids have to be protected from some groups of teens because the colour of their skin? ‘ This is not Wexford I know,’ said the woman. She said the incident took place in the car park at the back of Colman Doyle’s in the town centre on the afternoon of Saturday, June 3.
‘ There was a group of young people there, both girls and boys, who shouted racist abuse at her.
‘Her friends spoke up for her, but they ran away from the confrontation because they were scared,’ she said.
During the incident, a passer-by intervened and reportedly told the teenager being abused ‘not to mind them...what they doing is disgusting’.
The woman said her daughter was now getting over the incident and had the support of a large group of friends and her family.
‘I feel that what happened is because of what is happening in the world with terrorism and ignorance and the fact that children are often exposed to what is on the Internet.
‘My fear is if it happens to other children. We are multi-cultural and have refugees living in the town now.
‘It’s scary for an adult, you can imagine what it’s like for a child,’ said the girl’s mother, who asked not to be identified.
‘I hope this isn’t the start of something that’s going to get worse, she said.
The woman said the incident was reported to Wexford gardai who are investigating the complaint.