HollyMatkinHouston, TX – A devastated mother said that her daughter was forcibly removed from her middle school campus on Monday, and gang-raped by a group of classmates, and that a video of the sexual assault was posted to social media.
The unnamed woman – whose identity has not been revealed in order to protect the victim – said that officials from Forest Brook Middle School notified her about the assault after they became aware of the video, which was widely circulated throughout the school, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
In an interview with KPRC, she said that five or six eighth grade boys intercepted her 13-year-old daughter at the school as the girl was preparing to go to dance class.
“The boys were telling her, ‘No, no, dance, come with us,’” her mother told KPRC. “And she was in the front and they were in the back and they were pushing on her.”
She said the boys forced her daughter through a hole in the fence behind the school, and led her to a wooded area.
“They were forcing her, shoving her in the hole to go in the woods and she was you know trying to fight – like, ‘get off me, leave me alone,’” the victim’s mother said.
“They stripped off her clothes and were hitting her,” the mother said.
“About two of them had sexual intercourse with her and one was punching her in the head and another one was holding her down. I mean, she couldn’t do anything because there was too many guys.”
Two or three of the boys had intercourse with her daughter, the woman told the San Antonio Express-News.
She said that one of the boys recorded the entire assault, and that he posted the video to Instagram. The video has since been removed, KPRC reported.
“What kind of individual would post this to social media the degrading of a female?” the girl’s uncle asked. “You took her humanity. You took her innocence. You took everything she believed in.”
The girl’s mother demanded answers from the Houston Independent School District (HISD), who she said bore responsibility for providing a safe environment for students.
“I don’t feel their school is safe,” she told KPRC. “It’s bullying. It’s fighting. There are a lot of things going on.”
The HISD said they immediately increased patrols at the school in the wake of the alleged rape, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
“HISD Police are investigating an alleged sexual assault involving several Forest Brook Middle School students near the campus,” the district said. “At this time, no charges have been filed.”
“She’s going to be scarred for the rest of her life,” the girl’s uncle told KPRC. “She wants to become a writer, and I don’t know how this is going to factor. It tears me up.”.