Mother says teen girl was stabbed by boy ‘trying to court her’

A Montreal mother is speaking out after her daughter was stabbed on her way to school almost three weeks ago.

She says the attacker had been pursuing her daughter romantically.

Since the incident involves two minors, their identities need to be protected, including the victim’s mother.

“My daughter, from the bus going down, she saw the boy. And she says, ‘he’s there. Why is he there?’’ she says.

The 14-year-old girl was headed into Saint-Luc High School in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood when she was attacked on Oct. 7.

Her mother says she was “begging for her life,” but the boy continued to stab her.

The victim was cut near her right eye. She was hospitalized for minor fractures and had to undergo eye surgery.

A 17-year-old is facing charges of attempted murder and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. He’s scheduled to appear in youth court on Nov. 3.

But the victim’s mother says the physical injuries are nothing compared to the psychological trauma caused by the attack.

“There’s a lot of attempting to court her, and the same thing, rejecting, rejecting,” the mother explains. “My daughter says that ‘I’m not ready for the boyfriend. I want to study more.”

• READ MORE: Teen boy charged with attempted murder after girl, 14, attacked at Montreal school

She is getting support from community organizations like the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR).

Fo Niemi, executive director of CRARR, says more needs to be done to address gender-based violence.

“They still don’t have enough resources to deal with violence against women. And now we have violence against girls, especially at schools,” he says.

The girl has yet to decide if she will return to school, transfer or do homeschooling.

Her mother just hopes that speaking out will help others and prevent the incident from happening again.