IF YOU ARE 15 years old and you go to a fast food shop with your friends, you expect to have a good time. You don’t expect to have your arm broken and you certainly don’t want to hear a tirade of racial abuse.
But this is what happened to a teenage girl in Waltham Forest last November. And police have now released a still taken from CCTV footage of two women they want to identify, find and interview in connection with this incident.
It was just after 8.30pm on Monday, 6th November when the victim, whom the police describe as “of Asian appearance”, and her friends went to a fast food shop in Albert Crescent, Waltham Forest. The first sign of trouble came when food was thrown at her.
The girl turned round to speak to two women whom she believed had thrown the food. The women then racially abused her – before they began a physical attack. One of them pulled the victim’s hair, so hard that she fell to the ground – and then both of them began to kick her. The victim stood up, starting to get away – when they threw a hot drink in her face.
The police and London Ambulance Service were called. Medics found that the young teenager had sustained a broken arm during the assault. The police are now looking for the two attackers. They have little to go on. One is in her 50s and the other in her mid-20s – and they behaved as if they might be mother and daughter. The police have now released this picture in the hope that members of the public will come forward with information that might help them identify the suspects.
Detective Constable Rosie Doyle, from Waltham Forest CID, said, “This was an unprovoked and vicious attack which has left the victim very shaken and with a serious injury. If you recognise the women in these pictures, we would urge you to get in touch. We do not tolerate hate crime of any form and encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and report such incidents to the police.”
•If you saw this attack, if you believe you recognise the suspects or if you have any other information which might help, please call the police via 101. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111, where you can give information anonymously.
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