KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mother of a 14-year-old girl, who says her daughter was beaten and sexually assaulted by a group of boys, said she blames herself for the attack.
According to court documents the attack on the 14-year-old happened last Thursday while the girl was staying at a neighbor’s house.
“You shouldn’t prey on the weak-spirited people,” the mother of the 14-year-old victim said.
In the front yard of the dilapidated home where the mother and her four children had been staying until recently, stools, chairs and cut-up tree branches surround a makeshift campfire.
The fire pit was the only source of warmth for the mother and her four children during the past month.
“What am I supposed to do? Last week it was very cold, and the week before that it was very cold. So do I leave them in a house with no lights where we were previously staying at for them to be safe?” she asked.
The single mother said a month ago the electricity in their home was turned off. And last Thursday, with an overnight temperature in the 30a, she said her 14-year-old daughter chose to stay in the home across the street with a distant relative and 10 other kids.
“The next morning I was going to get a 911 call like, ‘You need to rush over here because your daughter’s bleeding everywhere,'” she said.
Court documents spell out an attack on the girl involving a beating, burning her skin with incense, ripping her clothes off and photos of the attempted sexual assault.
“How do you think a mother is supposed to feel when you have four to five teenage guys, you know, trying to force my daughter to do sexual acts that she don’t want to do?” she said.
The mother said surviving day-to-day with no stable job, little money and no support is tough. Now with the attack on her daughter, she wonders when will it end.
“Just to imagine what she was going through, you know? It still hurts me as a parent because I’m not stable,” she said.
Two teens have been charged in the assault. Three juveniles who were also arrested may face a court hearing later this week. For the mother and her family, she said she is praying when one door closes — another opens.
“Everyone’s blowing my phone up now,” she said. “I seen you on the news, this, this and that, but no one is saying, ‘What can I do to help you get out of this situation that you’re in?’ And that’s all I’m asking for.”
The mother said she starts a new job Monday night and hopes it will be the beginning of a stable home life for her kids.
