Girl, 14, admits assaulting teen in mall food court

A 14-year-old girl apologized in Brandon provincial court on Monday for assaulting a girl in the Shoppers Mall food court in April before a judge sentenced her to 10 hours of community service.

“I’m so sorry for what I did. I really regret it now and just think it sounds really dumb,” said the teen, who can’t be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

“If I could go back, I just like, wouldn’t have done anything,” she said.

The girl, who is going into Grade 10 at a Brandon high school, pleaded guilty to assaulting another teen in the mall food court on April 7.

Brandon police were made aware of the assault around 7 p.m. and spoke with a security officer and two victims in the mall later that evening, said Georgia Steeves, an articling student with the provincial Crown.

One of the victims told police she was assaulted by the accused but didn’t have any injuries or a desire to pursue charges.

The second victim gave a statement to police, saying she went to the mall with a friend around 6 p.m. and saw the other victim and two girls escorted out of the mall, Steeves said.

Then when she and her friend were at Bluenotes, they saw the accused with a group of about 20 people and she “made a face at her,” Steeves said.

Later that evening when the two girls were leaving the washroom area in the food court, they saw the accused again near New York Fries.

The teen “grabbed (the victim) by the hair, slammed her to the floor and proceeded to punch her several times in the head,” Steeves said.

The victim’s friend tried to intervene in the fight, but the accused pushed her away before an unknown woman stepped in, she said.

The victim and her friend walked across the food court to SportChek, where they called their parents.

“There were some injuries sustained to her right knee, which was bruised and sore, along with the back of the head and a sharp headache,” Steeves said.

The victim told police she didn’t know why the girl assaulted her as they used to be friends at school. She also said the accused had messaged her boyfriend three days prior to the incident, threatening to attack her.

Police arrested the teen that evening and released her on an undertaking. The youth had no criminal record prior to the mall assault.

“This incident is serious, and there is a level of violence, which is why we believe it should be reflected on the record as time as a youth,” Steeves said.

She said the assault was captured on video surveillance and was “seemingly unprovoked, but potentially premeditated.”

Tesia Romaniw, an articling student with Eric Wach Law Corporation — a criminal defence law firm — said the accused has treaty status in a western Manitoba First Nation and has been in the care of Child and Family Services since birth.

She said the teen loves swimming, figure skating, painting and drawing.

Steeves and Romaniw made a joint recommendation to the judge, suggesting the girl be sentenced to 10 hours of community service and a year of supervised probation with conditions not to contact the victim and attend counselling as directed.

Judge Patrick Sullivan encouraged the girl to focus on participating in the sports and art activities she loves while going to school. He said the assault should be taken seriously and accepted the joint recommendation.

“I’m not asking for any details, but I can’t imagine anything that would … justify that type of behaviour,” he said.

“Being in court is not anywhere anybody wants to be. So, I’m hopeful you’ll not want to come back here, and this is the last time we’ll be dealing with you here in court.”

» tadamski@brandonsun.com