Teen girl charged in playground beatings

A 13-year-old girl is facing SASKATOON charges in connection with two assaults in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill Park area, one of which was captured on video.

The girl is charged with two counts of assault, Saskatoon police said Friday. Several other youths “have been identified as being involved” in the incidents, police added, but because they are under the age of 12 no charges will be laid.

The teen was wearing a blue T-shirt during her appearance Friday in Saskatoon provincial court, her right hand heavily bandaged.

She was released on conditions that she reside with her parents, who were in the courtroom, and also have no contact with a long list of people connected or believed to be connected to the incidents.

The judge declined a Crown request for a curfew of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. The teen is scheduled to appear again June 6.

On May 13, a 10-year-old girl and 14-year-old girl were assaulted around 7 p.m., police said.

On May 20 around 7 p.m., 33-year-old Bonnie Halcrow was assaulted. The incident, recorded on video by a bystander, appears to show at least four people swarming, punching and kicking her at a playground while other children stand by laughing. The assault continued as she fell to the ground and tried to protect herself. She eventually got up and walked away after her attackers left.

Halcrow said she was attacked after she recorded boys throwing sticks and stones at a man pushing a fridge on a trolley through the park and she chastised them for their actions. The victims in both incidents sustained minor injuries. The targeted enforcement section is investigating the incidents, “along with several others,” police said.