A teenager accused of brutally attacking a five-months pregnant mother was only released on bail two days before the alleged assault.
CCTV footage captured a teenage girl grabbing the mother by the hair from behind and dragging her down a laneway in Smallman Place, Perth, on Monday, as she was pushing he twins in a pram.
A 15-year-old girl has since been charged with the alleged robbery which left even the most hardened police officers ‘lost for words’.
A close relative of the accused teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, revealed the girl from a ‘disadvantaged background’ was granted bail from Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre on Saturday.
The family member told the West Australian the 15-year-old was ‘desperate for money’ but she had given her and another girl cash to go the shop hours before the alleged attack.
‘I don’t even know what to say, it’s just too hard to even think about it. In fact, watching that video made me cry,’ she said.
‘It shocked me. That’s awful to even see something like that happening.’
Footage from WA Police showed a scooter outside the house where a 15-year-old girl was arrested
The horrifying vision shows a girl viciously pull the mother to the ground as she struggles to maintain a grip on her pram.
As the five-months-pregnant mum, 37, falls, her pram tips over, sending her two toddlers’ legs up into the air as they scream and cry.
She is then dragged further back down the laneway by the teenager in what police allege was an attempt to steal the woman’s handbag.
Police told the mother to go to a doctor as soon as possible as she is more than halfway into her pregnancy and fell onto her stomach.
Minutes before the 12.40pm attack, a teen was pictured on CCTV riding a scooter with another young girl.
Two teenagers were arrested in a home later that day where a scooter was parked in the driveway.
Footage shows a teenager attempting to steal the 37-year-old mother’s handbag in a vicious daylight attack
Horrified commenters flooded social media with shock and horror over the incident, which unfolded in broad daylight in a Perth suburb
Police footage shows the girls crying and swearing as other household members holler in the background.
Only the 15-year-old girl was charged in relation to the attack with police noting the other teen was only arrested as part of early investigations.
The footage released by WA Police sparked a wave of outrage on social media with many shocked at the violence and others concerned for the welfare of the mother and children.
‘I hope they are ok… thank goodness the mother strapped the children in the pram properly… they would’ve been so scared,’ one person said.
Police arrested a 15-year-old girl (pictured) a short time after the alleged attack and have charged her with robbery
Footage showed a teenager approaching the mother from behind and pulling her by her hair down a laneway
‘That poor mother and her toddlers must be traumatised, I hope they’re ok including the unborn baby. It’s absolutely shocking,’ another said.
The girl was charged with one count of robbery and is set to appear in Geraldton Magistrates Court on September 13.
Investigators released the CCTV footage of the attack to help piece together what happened and asked that anyone with relevant information contact contact police.
Neighbours said they were ‘disgusted’ by the brutal daylight assault, with some other local mothers now too afraid to leave their homes.
‘How does someone of that age have the audacity to do that…an adult with a pram, it’s disgusting,’ one neighbour said.
‘I’ve never witnessed or heard of any violence of that level here.’
Another added: ‘I’m a mother of young boy and I walk that same street, it makes me not want to walk around there anymore.’
The mother tried to hold on to her knocked-over pram as the teen tried to steal her handbag
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