Teen girl beaten in White Oaks Park lead police to charge 2 other youth

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 4:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 16 minutes ago

The beating of a young teen successful a metropolis park is raising questions astir bystanders who movie convulsive incidents but don't telephone for help — and astir however societal media tin assistance dispersed misinformation astir what really happened.  

Videos of the caller incidental successful White Oaks Park, successful the city's southwest, person been shared among young radical and posted to societal media sites specified arsenic Facebook. There person besides been chaotic rumours — that the battle lasted for an hour, that constabulary didn't amusement up, and that up to 8 girls were progressive successful the swarming. 

"I don't cognize astir stepping in, but radical decidedly request to measurement up. If you spot thing wrong, bash something," said Rebecca Keenan, a London ma who saw the onslaught and called constabulary portion moving to assistance the miss being bushed up. 

Keenan ran past a fig of radical lasting astir and others filming the incidental arsenic it unfolded. "I get that radical are acrophobic to measurement in, but you don't person to get into the mediate of it to telephone 911." 

Two teenagers are facing charges aft the April 12 incident, which constabulary accidental happened conscionable aft 7:30 p.m. While different teen girls were around, they weren't involved successful the existent attack, constabulary said. 

"The 3 girls became progressive successful a verbal statement and erstwhile the pistillate unfortunate attempted to locomotion distant from the teens, 1 of the girls deed the unfortunate implicit the caput with a vessel portion the different sprayed the unfortunate with capsicum spray earlier she fell to the ground," constabulary said. 

"Once connected the ground, the teens continued to battle the unfortunate earlier fleeing from the country connected foot." 

Officers recovered and arrested a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old a abbreviated region away. The victim, believed to beryllium 14-years-old, was taken to infirmary with superior but non life-threatening injuries. She didn't cognize her attackers, constabulary said.  

"The constabulary were determination wrong minutes. It was not an hour, similar immoderate radical are saying," Keenan said. "As I was moving toward her, you could perceive sirens successful the region and the girls conscionable scattered. It was precise disturbing. It's not the archetypal clip we've seen fights similar this successful the park." 

Youth transgression up slightly

Violent younker transgression jumped by 5 per cent crossed Canada successful 2022, according to Statistics Canada, but that's a misleading statistic due to the fact that wide younker transgression is precise low, said Jennifer Silcox, a prof successful Childhood and Youth Studies astatine King's University whose probe focuses connected transgression successful Canada involving younker and girls. 

"Crime among young radical was going down since the 1990s, and past it started to spell up during COVID," she said. "The increases tin dependable large, but the numbers are truthful tiny successful the archetypal spot that it's casual to misconstrue those increases." 

The thought of out-of-control girls swarming guiltless bystanders is overblown by media and fashionable culture, Silcox added. 

"Usually, transgression is reasonably targetted. Most crime, whether younker oregon adult, is not random. The victims and offenders cognize each other," she said. "It's tied to inequality. If determination are problems astatine location oregon inequality successful general, young radical sometimes respond with transgression behaviour." 

The Youth Criminal Justice Act aims to support first-time offenders retired of the transgression justness strategy due to the fact that 1 of the biggest predictors of further transgression is engagement successful the system, Silcox added. 

The 2 teens person each been charged with battle with a limb and failing to comply with an undertaking. 

The 14-year-old miss has besides been charged with possession of a limb and the 15-year-old with assault causing bodily harm.