The mother of an 11-year-old Florida girl charged with brutally beating a classmate in a school cafeteria has insisted her daughter is the real victim, claiming she had endured weeks of relentless bullying before finally snapping.
The shocking attack at Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach was captured on video late last month, leaving another 11-year-old girl with a concussion and too terrified to return to school.
But the accused girl's mother is now defending her daughter—who she says is an honor roll student with perfect attendance—as she faces a second-degree felony aggravated battery charge.
'She's not a criminal, she's a child,' the mother told WPLG.
'She made a mistake, but she is a child that felt the need to defend herself.'
The mother, whose name is withheld to protect her daughter's privacy, said she repeatedly sought help from school officials over alleged harassment in the weeks before the attack.
She said her daughter reached a breaking point after being bullied and insisted the violence could have been prevented.
The mother acknowledged that the footage was difficult to watch and stressed that she did not condone her daughter's actions.
The mother of an 11-year-old Florida girl charged with brutally beating a classmate in a school cafeteria has insisted her daughter is the real victim
The mother, whose name is withheld to protect her daughter's privacy, said she repeatedly sought help from school officials over alleged harassment
She also expressed frustration that her child faced serious criminal charges while the circumstances of the confrontation received less attention.
The victim's family, however, has painted a very different picture of what happened inside the school cafeteria.
The victim's mother said the 11-year-old suffered a concussion after being punched over 40 times before anyone stopped the assault.
The girl has reportedly been too frightened to return to school since the beating.
'I was just grateful that she was alive,' her mother told WPLG earlier this week, breaking down in tears as she recalled the attack.
An attorney representing the injured girl has also accused the school of failing to protect her despite allegedly receiving advance warnings that an assault was imminent.
The competing accounts have raised questions about whether school officials did enough to prevent the confrontation.
District officials maintained that the school followed its disciplinary procedures and referred the incident to law enforcement, the outlet reported.
The shocking attack at Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach was captured on video late last month, leaving another 11-year-old girl with a concussion
The mother acknowledged that the footage was difficult to watch and stressed that she did not condone her daughter's actions
The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said it initially referred the criminal case to a juvenile diversion program as a misdemeanor battery offense.
Prosecutors subsequently filed the more serious second-degree felony aggravated battery charge after the victim's mother requested prosecution and authorities considered the extent of her daughter's injuries.
The accused girl's mother is now urging the judge to consider the events leading up to the beating rather than judging her daughter solely on the viral footage.
She maintains that her daughter had been struggling with harassment and that school officials had opportunities to intervene before the confrontation turned violent.
