Teenager suffers fractured eye-socket in racist park attack

A teenage girl suffered a fractured eye socket after being brutally attacked and racially abused at Springfield Park last Tuesday evening (16 June).

The 17-year old girl had taken her three young sisters to play on the swings in the park together with her sister-in-law, who had also taken her 12-month-old baby daughter.

Confronted by two girls already on the swings, the victim and her sisters were told they could not use them and were racially abused. A short time later, a third girl and a boy joined in the abuse.

One of the girls then punched the victim in the face, and the pendant from her bracelet embedded itself in the teenager's right cheek, narrowly missing her eyeball.

The victim was taken by ambulance to Rochdale Infirmary with the pendant still embedded in her face, where doctors removed it.

She was left with a cut beneath her eye, a fractured eye socket and severe bruising.

The victim's uncle, Mohammed Shafiq, has spoken about the incident on the Rochdale Online message board, where readers have been leaving their sympathies for his niece following the 'savage attack'.

Mr Shafiq said: "My niece is still recovering but very much shocked that she will have permanent scars as a result of the attack. She takes huge comfort for the support and kind words from the Rochdale Online community.

"Racism is evil whichever individual or community it is against. I have fought many campaigns against racism and will continue to do so regardless of the attacks on me and I passionately believe that most of the people in Rochdale respect our diversity and find any sort of racism abhorrent.

"Obviously my niece will take a lot longer to come to terms with what happened and I would urge those that were present in the Park on the day to think again about their silence and get in touch with the Police."

Three girls, two aged 16 and one aged 14, were arrested in connection with the incident and bailed until 16 July pending further inquiries. A man arrested was released without charge.

Police are keen to trace a man who was wearing a red T-shirt, possibly a Manchester United top, who intervened during the verbal abuse and before the attack took place.

Police Constable Lee Worswick, of the Hate Crime Unit based at Rochdale, said: "This was a particularly savage attack on a young teenage girl who had simply gone out with her three younger sisters to play on the swings. If the pendant had gone into her eyeball, she could have suffered permanent damage and lost her eyesight. If that had happened, this senseless and needless attack would have ended in tragedy.

"Racism in any form is totally abhorrent, and shows a complete lack of education and understanding for other cultures. We are working very hard through the Hate Crime Unit to send out the message that we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour and we will punish racists.

"Extra officers were brought in over the weekend to deal with this job and we understand it will cause concern in the community. This has enabled us to make arrests but we will not be complacent. We are very keen to speak to the man who intervened during the verbal abuse so we can move this investigation forward."

Anyone with information should call the Hate Crime Unit on 0161 856 8511 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.