A violent African woman has been sentenced to just six months in a youth justice training centre for brutally bashing an autistic teenager on Altona Pier, but intends to appeal
Alajeck Anai, 18, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday where she pleaded guilty to one charge of affray, after police withdrew charges of intentionally causing injury and recklessly causing injury over the shocking February 28 attack which was filmed and posted online.
Anai’s victim, 14-year-old Dakota Hyatt, was punched 55 times in the savage assault, and her distraught mother Anna Axiak said outside court that daughter was still suffering months later, and too scared to return to school or live a normal teenage life, the Herald Sun reported.
The court heard that Anai threw 43 of the punches at Dakota, who was a complete stranger to her. Three other alleged attackers are still before a children’s court, but cannot be identified due to their age.
Magistrate Justin Foster said in sentencing it was difficult to understand how Anai could display such hate and anger towards someone she didn’t know, and called the attack “disgusting and outrageous behaviour”.
“You essentially beat the crap out of her and you did that without any provocation whatsoever,” he said.
When the video of the attack was shown to the court the victim had to leave the room and Mr Foster reprimanded a member of the public who commented “pack of wild dogs”.
The video shows several attackers repeatedly punching Dakota, pulling her hair, and pouring an energy drink over her head.
The savage bashing only stopped when an unknown man stepped in saying: “That’s enough, yeah? She’s little”.
Ms Axiak said she collapsed when she first saw the footage.
“You don’t expect it to be as brutal as it was, and to see Dakota and hear her wailing and begging them to stop, which they didn’t, that’s really hurtful,” she said.
“It’s been heartbreaking watching my daughter just suffering the pain alone.”
Header image: Footage of the bashing, left. Anai outside court, right (7 News)
