Mum of schoolgirl 'attacked' in Glasgow speaks out after autistic daughter left 'petrified'

The mum of a schoolgirl who was left with horrific injuries after an alleged attack has spoken out about their frightening experience.

Twelve-year-old Abbie was rushed to A&E and spent two nights in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after she was reportedly beaten unconscious.

The alleged attack was said to have happened last Tuesday night in Drumchapel and it is claimed bystanders reportedly filmed the assault on their phones.

Abbie’s mum Angela told the Glasgow Times she felt something wasn’t right after she hadn’t heard from her daughter, who has autism, for around two hours.

The 43-year-old said: “I just got an awful feeling and happened to text her saying I was going to come to meet her because I don’t like her walking around in the dark.

“I didn’t leave because I wanted her to text me back, but she didn’t. So I called, and she answered the phone and said, ‘I'm okay, I'm okay’ and the phone went dead.

“I thought that was weird, so I messaged saying ‘why did you put the phone down?’ “Then I got a message a few minutes later saying she had been beaten up by this girl.

“That’s when I grabbed my two other children, got in the car, and put her tracker on.”

After arriving at the park, Abbie was nowhere to be seen.

Angela phoned the police after struggling to locate her daughter.

She said: “I told them ‘I'm really worried, I think my daughter’s hurt, I'm following her tracker and I can’t find her.’

“They asked if I needed an ambulance. My son then said the tracker was showing as being at our house and I went ‘oh she’s home’. They asked again if I needed an ambulance, but I hadn’t seen her. In the back of my mind, I was thinking ‘she made it home so she’s okay’.”

When Angela pulled up outside the family home, a car belonging to another of Abbie’s friend’s parents was outside.

Angela said: “Her dad approached me and said, ‘we’ve got Abbie in the back, I just have to warn you it doesn’t look good.’

“Abbie had her head down and her wee friend’s mum was holding her saying ‘come on Abbie, stay awake’. I just looked at her legs and they were covered in vomit and blood.

Angela and Abbie, after she was discharged from hospital (Image: Facebook)

“I still had the police on the phone, and I heard them shout ‘do you need an ambulance’ and I shouted ‘yes I need an ambulance’.

“I shouted on Abbie, and she put her head back and made a noise. She looked like she had a huge tumour on her head. It just didn’t look like Abbie. Her face looked completely deformed.

“She was covered in blood and her lips were huge. At that point, I began shaking and wanted to vomit. I just went into shock and couldn’t touch her for a minute, I was in sheer panic.”

After waiting 15 minutes on an ambulance, Angela phoned for an update and was told there was a struggle getting one dispatched, due to it being very busy.

She was asked if she could get Abbie to the hospital herself.

“I wasn’t very happy,” Angela said.

“She needed medical treatment immediately; she was going in and out of consciousness.

“I was thinking ‘how am I going to drive, I'm shaking like a leaf, I'm going to be sick, I need to keep her alert’.

“But I asked for help. I asked if I could take her friend so she could talk to her. We had her making wee noises, so we knew she was still with us.

“When we got to the hospital, the nurses were amazing, they took her straight in. They said with the number of injuries and the state she was in they’d be contacting the police themselves.

“They told me ‘I just have to let you know we have to do a CT scan because there could be a fracture in the skull.’

“They were preparing me for the worst. The staff were shocked themselves at the mess she was in. Abbie is tiny, she’s a child. She couldn’t talk, if anybody would touch her, she would cry out in pain. She leaned up once in the hospital and started vomiting.”

Angela admitted going through a range of emotions, including blaming herself.

She said: “Your body goes into survival mode; you don’t register what’s actually happened. I remember looking at her and getting upset, I'm trying not to cry, but the tears were coming, and I was constantly thinking ‘I need to reassure Abbie’.

“I was in a different world; I was just staring thinking ‘how could this have happened’. It didn’t feel real when we were in the hospital. My heart was breaking then I was angry, and then I was blaming myself as a mum.

“I’ve got a strong bond with all my kids, and you just think ‘how could this happen, how did I not pick this up’ and still now I'm going through that.”

It is understood that a 13-year-old girl charged with serious assault in connection with the alleged incident has been ordered to comply with bail conditions not to approach or contact Abbie.

She will appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court in due course.

Despite her injuries, Abbie is feeling much better physically.

But Angela said: “It’s just the mental health side of it. She doesn’t want to step out the front door.”

Angela added: “Abbie hadn’t attended school for quite some time - she’s got anxiety. I’d drop her off and an hour later I’d be picking her up, she’d have really bad panic attacks.

“With CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and myself, we worked so hard to try and give her everything to build her confidence, and she did it. She returned to a new school just before the summer holidays. She said she wanted to do it.

“I’m now worried about her moving forward, and Abbie is as well, it’s not just me. If she finds the confidence to go back, I will still be worried. She’s petrified, she’s absolutely petrified.”

Angela is now backing a petition put forward by community campaigner Alex O’Kane, who is calling on the Scottish Government to “address the disturbing culture of youth violence in Scotland”.

The founder of the ‘No1seems2care’ Facebook page says he has received dozens of videos, images and first-hand accounts of incidents in Glasgow city centre and beyond.

That petition is now under consideration, but Angela has set another up following Abbie’s experience.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "A 13-year-old girl has been arrested and charged following the alleged serious assault of a 12-year-old girl in Southdeen Avenue near Southdeen Park, Drumchapel, Glasgow, on Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

"She has been released on an undertaking to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court at a later date.

"A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration for consideration."