By Samantha Jones-
A 15-year-old girl who attacked a pregnant woman while she was wheeling her children in a pram down a Perth Street has been jailed.
The teen – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was sentenced to 12 months in prison after being found guilty of aggravated robbery following the assault in Ashfield on September 5.
The terrifying attack was caught on CCTV, with footage showing the 37-year-old mum lying on the ground after she was approached by the girl.
The video shows the teen dragging the woman, who was five months pregnant at the time, by her hair along a footpath.
The 37-year-old mother was walking her two children Monday afternoon on a quiet suburban street in Perth, Australia when the teenage attacker approached her and pulled her by the hair until she fell.
The two toddlers were thrown onto their backs in the pram as their desperate mother tried to get free.
“She (the mother) hung onto that pram for dear life,” WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said of the mother at the time of the incident.
“If that doesn’t demonstrate what a mother is prepared to do to protect their kids, I don’t know what does.”
The teen claimed she was coerced into a string of crimes by her cousin while high on marijuana, WAtoday reported.
She was also charged with six similar offences in the Midland, Midvale and Ashfield areas from August 30 to September 5, including attacks on an 11-year-old girl and another woman.
Judge Hylton Quail said the girl’s actions were “sickening” during Wednesday’s sentencing, but also spoke about how violence and anti-social behaviour was normalised due to her dysfunctional upbringing.
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to the attack in Perth Children’s Court, admitting she was trying to rob the mother.
“From very young she was exposed to a high level of alcohol and substance abuse and she experienced a great deal of neglect and has been hospitalised on a number of occasions for serious injuries as a result of that neglect,” he said.