A mother has revealed the devastating toll an alleged attack by fellow teenagers has taken on her daughter, who is facing further surgery for serious facial injuries.
Kaela was walking with a friend along the main road near Aldi in Robina, Gold Coast, at about 5.40pm on Friday, August 14, when she was allegedly ambushed by two teenage girls, aged 13 and 16.
The 13-year-old was allegedly kicked and stomped on before being knocked unconscious.
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She had been staying at a friend’s house for a sleepover when the girls were allowed to walk to the shops for snacks.
“Then I got a call from a bystander about 20 minutes (or) half an hour later,” Sabra told 7NEWS.com.au.
“I just fell apart to be honest.
“The person who rang me was a woman and she said, ‘I’ve got your daughter here and she’s been she’s been bashed up really bad’.
“We quickly jumped in the car because we don’t live too far from there and raced to where she was on the ground.
“She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, was going in and out of consciousness and had blood just everywhere.
“It was horrifying.
“She looked like she’d been hit by a car.”
Kaela, 13, was allegedly attacked by two teenage girls near Aldi in Robina on August 14. Her mum Sabra says the alleged assault has left her daughter traumatised and facing a long road to recovery. Credit: Supplied/7NEWS Kaela was taken by ambulance to Gold Coast University Hospital in a serious condition.
“It just felt like an eternity for the ambulance to arrive. Everything goes in slow motion when you’re in such a terrifying situation,” Sabra said.
It was later discovered she had suffered a serious injury to her nose, including a suspected haematoma behind the septum.
Kaela underwent surgery on Tuesday, where doctors discovered two haematomas behind her septum, which they had to drill open, drain and stitch before placing a splint inside each nostril to stop her nose from collapsing in on itself.
Sabra said Kaela was home recovering on Wednesday and in severe pain, requiring strong medication as she “is in agony”.
The young teen was also questioning why she needed the surgery which her mother explained was necessary to prevent the injury from becoming even more serious.
“If she hadn’t had that surgery, what the surgeons had explained to me was that the hematomas would become infected and lead to decaying of the cartilage inside her nose, which would have permanently disfigured her and made it so that she couldn’t breathe,” she said.
But the teenager’s recovery is far from over.
“There’s certain surgeries that she may need in the future, but they won’t be able to perform them because she’s still growing, they won’t be able to do (them) until she’s older,” Sabra said.
The physical injuries have also been compounded by the emotional fallout.
Sabra claimed the youngest person involved in the alleged ambush was known to Kaela, having previously gone to school with her before being expelled over what she described as “the same kind of behaviour”.
The 13-year-old accused has been dealt with under the Youth Justice Act for assault and wilful damage, while the 16-year-old faces common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm in company charges.
Kaela’s long road to recovery Kaela has also faced further harassment online since the attack, while footage of the alleged assault also circulated among students at her school.
“It’s gone through her entire school, and it’s made her uncomfortable about returning,” she said.
“She doesn’t really want to leave the house either.”
The family is considering homeschooling as Sabra is currently unable to give her daughter a fresh start somewhere else.
“I would love to be able to move, but I just don’t have the financial stability to be able to move,” she said.
“I’m a single parent to my three children … when it comes to financial stuff, we just don’t have it.”
Sabra added that her daughter continues to feel unsafe in the wake of the alleged attack.
Community rallies behind Kaela Finn “Lucci” Johnson, founder of Gold Coast community page StreetBuzz, launched a GoFundMe after learning Kaela’s phone had also been smashed during the alleged assault.
The fundraiser initially aimed to raise $1000 to replace the phone and help ease the pressure on the family, with money also intended to support counselling and, eventually, self-defence classes.
It has since more than doubled its target, raising more than $2000 by Thursday.
For Sabra, the support has been a small piece of good to emerge from an otherwise traumatic experience.
“It’s very, very sweet and very kind,” she said.
“I just want to get her to self-defence and all sorts of things but that’s going to be way down the track because the healing process for her nose and everything is going to take a long time.”
“It’s dangerous obviously to have any kind of contact sport … or to do any kind of running around for quite a while.”
For now, Sabra says she is focused on helping her daughter heal and slowly regain her confidence.
“It’s going to be a couple of months, I think, or I’ll be able to get her to get out of the house and try and help them move forward as best as we can.”
Kaela’s alleged attack happened on the same day 14-year-old Callum was allegedly lured into an ambush in Logan, where a group of youths allegedly punched, kicked and stomped on him, leaving him with a fractured skull and hearing loss in one ear.
The two cases have renewed calls for tougher action on youth crime in Queensland.
“The juvenile violence in Queensland is just unfortunately has changed things now, which is very sad,” Sabra said.
“So we’re hoping to see these new laws being passed that can protect our children properly.”