Mariam Moustafa death: Six teenage girls admit to street attack which left 18-year-old Egyptian student in a coma
Student suffered a stroke following Nottingham attack and died almost a month later
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Six teenage girls have admitted their part in an attack on an Egyptian engineering student Mariam Moustafa in Nottingham which left her in a coma last year.
The 18-year-old suffered a stroke 10 hours after the 20 February incident and died almost a month later.
Six teenagers had been charged with the offence of affray but three had denied the charge in October and were due to stand trial last week.
But Mariah Fraser, 19, Britania Hunter, 18, and a 16-year-old girl, admitted their part in the attack earlier this month at a hearing before Judge Gregory Dickinson QC on 16 April.
Three other teenage girls, two aged 17 and one aged 18 had admitted affray at Nottingham Youth Court last year. The case can be reported today after restrictions were lifted by District Judge Timothy Spruce.
The father of the student has claimed authorities showed him “no respect” by not informing him of the recent court hearing in which three girls admitted attacking his daughter.
Mohamed Moustafa described it as “another failure in the case of our daughter” and the family’s legal representative said an official complaint has been made to authorities.
Mr Moustafa, 51, said: “We were not informed or advised in any way, shape, or form that there was a hearing on that day. As a family we are entitled to know everything regarding our daughter's case beforehand and not after ... This very simple right was taken from us.”
He added: “This is not the first mistake. A lot of mistakes happened with Mariam from the very first day and now it is just normal. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes with Mariam. I believe it is not fair at all – because it is my daughter.”
The 18-year-old, who Mr Moustafa described as “very kind” and “like an angel”, was punched several times during a confrontation with a group of women near a bus stop in Parliament Street, Nottingham, around 8pm on the night of the attack.
The teenager got on a bus at the scene near the Victoria Centre shopping precinct but was followed by the same group, who it is claimed were threatening and abusive towards her.
She was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in the city and then transferred to Nottingham City Hospital where she was treated until her death.
The attack caused uproar in Egypt and the country’s embassy had called on those responsible to be “brought to justice swiftly”.
After the final guilty pleas were entered, the teenager’s family also expressed their anger at the level of charges the six defendants faced. Mr Moustafa described the affray charge as “very weak” - insisting there was “strong evidence” the defendants should have been tried on more serious charges.
He said: “We are very disappointed with the charges pressed against the defendants. It was not and is not what we expected. It’s unfair and unjust to charge those whom killed or, at least by their actions, led to [Mariam’s] death with such minor offences.
“It is very weak. It is not fair at all. From the first day I was very upset about the charge. Affray – it’s nothing.”
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: “We have worked closely with the police to make sure Mr Moustafa has been kept updated throughout this process and are deeply sorry this didn't happen on this particular occasion. We have contacted him to offer a full explanation.
“We were preparing for trial in this case, two of the three guilty pleas were unexpected and we informed the family immediately. We have also met with Mr Moustafa to explain the charge of affray, the CPS can only charge if the evidential stage of our tests for prosecution are met. Our thoughts remain with her family.”
The six teenagers will be sentenced on a date yet to be fixed.
Additional reporting by PA
UPDATE (13.05.20): A previous version of this article's headline stated that the street attack had "killed" Mariam Moustafa. As made clear in the article, the six teenage girls were not charged with manslaughter, or murder, following the attack. The headline has been amended accordingly.