Mother-of-four, 44, avoids jail after pulling out chunk of 15-year-old girl’s hair in vicious school gate assault ‘because victim had been showing off on social media’
- A mother of four has escaped jail after viciously attacking a 15-year-old girl
- Ghazala Mahmood, 44, attacked the teenager outside Levenshulme High School
- The altercation occured after Mahmood’s daughter and friends accused the victim of ‘showing off’ on social media
- Mahmood and her daughter confront the victim outside the school gates before grabbing the girl’s hair and pulling her to the floor
- Mahmood was found guilty of causing actual bodily harm but was spared jail
A mother viciously attacked a schoolgirl after getting involved in a row that had erupted between the 15-year-old and her daughter which had played out over social media, a court heard.
Ghazala Mahmood, 44, launched the assault on the girl outside Levenshulme High School, after her daughter and friends were said to have accused the victim of ‘showing off’ on social media.
The victim was challenged to a fight by the other children, Manchester Crown Court was told. There had been an altercation in school before the row exploded outside the gates of the all girls secondary school in April last year.
A teacher described how people jumped on one another ‘like a rugby pile’. The victim later received ‘intimidating’ messages from an anonymous account on Instagram, ‘glorifying’ the fact she had been ‘fu**** up’.
Ghazala Mahmood, 44, was spared jail after she was found guilty of attacking a schoolgirl
As the victim was leaving school at about 3pm, she was confronted by Mahmood and her daughter, as well as another mum and her daughter. A judge said Mahmood, a mother-of-four, ‘took the lead’ in the ‘joint assault’.
She grabbed the girl’s hair and pulled her to the floor. Mahmood pulled so hard that a large clump came out, the court heard. The other three women jumped on the victim, and she was hit to the face and stomach.
Two teachers saw what was happening, and ran over to intervene. Mahmood called the police and claimed she was the victim. In a statement read in court, a teacher at the school said: ‘I have never witnessed a parent assaulting a child like this.
The mother-of-four got involved in a row between her daughter and the victim
‘I was disgusted at her behaviour.’
The victim went to hospital. She suffered a small cut and bruise near her eye, and soreness. But the judge said the incident will have caused her ‘huge anxiety for some time’, as she returned to school.
Mahmood, of Greville Street, Longsight, was found guilty of causing actual bodily harm, after being convicted in the magistrates court.
On Wednesday, a judge heard that she continues to deny the offence. Judge Richard Mansell QC told Mahmood: ‘It is a pity that you have been unable to reflect on your actions, and accept that what you did was wholly wrong.
‘No parent should ever intervene in a dispute between a child and another child, and certainly not with physical violence.’
Mahmood was given 18 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, and must complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days
Judge Mansell said the offence was so serious that he could have sent Mahmood to prison, but decided to spare her jail. The court heard that she is the sole carer for her four children, following the breakdown of her marriage.
She also cares for her mother, who is unwell. Mahmood’s behaviour was ‘wholly out of character’ and the recent breakdown of her marriage was a ‘major factor’ in her actions, the judge said.
She has already received ‘significant punishment’ through the loss of her good character and the effects of criminal proceedings hanging over her, Judge Mansell said.
She was given 18 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, and must complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.