Phone victim came close to death

A mother today told how her 12-year-old daughter came close to death after she was stabbed by thieves stealing her mobile phone.

The schoolgirl was knifed in the back by a teenager little older than herself. The blow was so powerful it punctured her lung. A second blow went straight through her ankle.

As her terrified seven-year-old sister and 10-year-old cousin screamed for help, the thieves flung her against a shop window and snatched the phone before fleeing along London Road in West Croydon.

Speaking anonymously for fear of identifying her daughter, her mother, 31, told the Evening Standard: "When I saw her pale face and the blood pouring from under her arm, I thought of death. I thought I was going to lose my daughter. I cannot believe she is alive and with me today. I thank God for that."

The three girls were on their way home in the well-lit shopping street of London Road when the attack happened around 8.30pm on Thursday.

She was playing a game on her new £150 Motorola phone when a member of the gang - all aged about 15 - demanded she hand it over. She refused and within seconds they had stabbed and robbed her.

Dazed and confused, she then clambered on board a 198 bus with the help of her sister and cousin and went home and raised the alarm.

Her mother, a care assistant for a private health firm, said: "I knew something was wrong when I saw a scar on her face. She went straight to her room, sat on her bed and kept pulling her jacket over her injuries.

"I asked what was wrong but all she said was, 'Nothing, mummy.'

"Then I pulled open her jacket and saw blood pouring out from under her arm. I screamed, 'Oh my God, you're bleeding.'

"She started crying. She told me she had been jumped and that a gang had stolen her mobile phone. She was in such shock she hadn't even realised she had been stabbed.

"I was hysterical. I panicked and immediately dialled 999.

"She was having trouble breathing and I thought she was going to die. The man at the other end of the phone told me to press a towel on the wound. I grabbed the first one I saw and did what he said.

"The ambulance arrived 10 minutes later and, as soon as my husband arrived home to look after the other children, I rushed to the hospital. When I saw doctors cut her and insert tubes in her I started to think death, I was so scared."

She added: "I have spent every day in hospital with her. Thank God she is alive. She could easily have been dead.

"Why did they have to knife her, why didn't they just take her phone? She had no chance against them. She is only 12, for God's sake. I want these thugs caught. Their next victim might not be so lucky."

Police say the attack marks a new level of violence in the spiralling trend of phone thefts sweeping the capital. It comes just one month after a man was stabbed to death not far from where the girl was assaulted.

People living in the area say that it is becoming increasingly dangerous after dark, with gangs of youths roaming the streets.

Shopkeeper Shaji Sreedharan, 40, owner of the Eshop off-licence near the scene of Thursday's attack, said: "I realised this young girl had been attacked when I heard an almighty bang against the shop window and was told youths had pushed her.

"Just weeks ago thieves jumped over the counter of my shop and tried to snatch my phone. This area is becoming increasingly dangerous. People are really worried for their safety."

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the incident but released on police bail.

Detectives said two of the gang are black and a third had a scarf across his face to hide his identity. The girl, who is also black, is so traumatised by the assault that detectives do not intend to interview her until tomorrow.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Croydon Robbery Squad on 020 8649 1217, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Violence sweeping London