Two girl gang members have been spared jail after repeatedly punching an Egyptian student who later died.
Mariam Moustafa suffered a stroke which left her in a coma after the attack “over a boy” on 20 February last year.
She died almost a month later, but pathologists could not “legally link” the attack with her death, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
Mariah Fraser, 20, Britania Hunter, 18, and a 16-year-old girl, who cannot be named, admitted they were part of a “pack” of girls who confronted Ms Moustafa in a row “fuelled by social media”.
Fraser was ordered to spend eight months in a young offenders’ institution for her part in the attack, after a catalogue of her previous convictions were read to the court, including robbery, attempted robbery and assaulting a police officer.
Hunter was given a 12-month community order and told to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work, and the 16-year-old girl was remitted back to youth court with a view to a referral order.
Despite branding the defendants “aggressive” and “cowardly”, sentencing judge Gregory Dickinson QC decided not to send them to prison, saying: “The family of Mariam want the maximum possible sentence to be imposed on all those involved in the case.
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“Sympathy for their desperate sadness cannot displace a proper, dispassionate approach to sentencing in a court of law.”
Six attackers were charged after the incident, including three other teenagers aged 18, 17 and 16, who will be sentenced later this month.
Fraser, Hunter and the 16-year-old girl all admitted affray a week before their trial.
After the hearing, Mariam’s father Mohamed Moustafa said: “We are not safe in this country”. The 51-year-old added that his family are considering moving back to Egypt as a result.
“I have said from the first day, we need justice. Not just for me but for other people,” he said. “Maybe this will happen to your daughter or your son – we don’t have a strong law for what happened. It should be changed.”
Mr Moustafa said he does not believe there is no link between the attack and his daughter’s death.
“I waited all this time for justice, but now I feel there is no justice in this country,” he added.
