The victim's mother claims that girls aged 11 to 13 lured her daughter from Arena Centar to Savski Gaj, where they hit, scratched, and jumped on her. The girl ended up at the Children's Hospital in Klaićeva.
A 13-year-old girl from Zagreb's Lanište neighborhood was brutally beaten on Tuesday afternoon, with three girls aged 11 to 13 carrying out the attack. The victim sustained numerous injuries and was taken to the emergency department of the Children's Hospital in Klaićeva, while the case was reported to the police.
It all began at Arena Centar, where the victim was with a friend. According to the mother, the three girls approached her after an argument over the social network Snapchat, and the conflict escalated when they accessed her profile and changed her password. The attackers then urged the victim to go with them to the playground in Savski Gaj to beat up a third girl.
"After they argued over Snapchat, those three girls kept urging my daughter to go with them to the playground in Savski Gaj to beat up some other girl. But my daughter knew she would be the one getting beaten. Even though she told them she didn't want to go anywhere, they dragged her off," the mother of the minor told Jutarnji list.
According to Net.hr, the girl had a premonition of what would happen and didn't want to go, but after they forced her and threatened to beat her on the spot, she got on the bus to Savski Gaj. The route led through the neighborhoods of Trokut and Sveta Klara.
When they arrived at Hermanova Street, according to Net.hr, the attackers first lit cigarettes, and then the brutal assault began. "They started hitting and scratching her, and when she fell to the ground, they jumped on her head," described the mother of the attacked girl.
Jutarnji list reports that the mother said the girls jumped on her daughter's head so much that a sneaker print was left on her forehead. "Three of them against her one. Who knows how long it would have lasted if a woman hadn't happened to see them at the playground," the mother said. The attack was interrupted when a passerby came upon the scene, after which the attackers fled.
According to medical documentation obtained by Net.hr, the girl suffered numerous, fortunately minor, injuries. She has bruises, hematomas, and scratches on her body, and due to neck pain, she was given a cervical collar and advised complete rest. Jutarnji list reports that she has been nauseous all day, with headaches and neck pain, and has sustained a series of scratches and hematomas on her head, back, and abdomen.
The victim's mother immediately reported the case to the police. Around 6:40 PM, she received a call and learned what had happened, after which she took her daughter to the hospital and then to the police station in Remetinec. Given that the perpetrators are children under 14, the police explained that the case would be transferred to the Croatian Institute for Social Work.
"That one girl, who stirred everything up, is already well known in Lanište. Her abuse has become a daily occurrence; if she doesn't attack kids in the open, she drags them to the shopping center's toilet and slaps them there. The police constantly receive reports, parents complain, but no one does anything because they're 'too young'," the victim's mother told Net.hr in despair.
She added that her daughter fortunately escaped with minor injuries, but she fears what could happen to the next victim. "This is terrible; I can't understand why social services can't put a stop to it. I'm completely lost. The worst part is that the kids find it so funny that they record everything and send it around," the mother said.
"Those under 14 can't be charged with anything," the horrified mother claims, while the beaten girl can barely sleep and is upset about everything, as is her entire family.
Note: Sources disagree on the exact location of the attack. Net.hr cites Hermanova Street, while Jutarnji list mentions the playground in Savski Gaj. Both media outlets have sent inquiries to the Zagreb police, whose response has not yet been published.
