2 girls accused in Edmonton LRT attack plead guilty

Two teenage girls have pleaded guilty for their roles in a violent beating at an Edmonton LRT station last year.

Both girls were 12 years old when they were arrested following the attack on the Coliseum station on November 26, 2023. The attack left a 55-year-old woman hospitalized with serious facial and head injuries, including a concussion.

The couple was charged with aggravated assault. But at separate hearings in October and November, each pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault occasioning bodily harm.

Twelve is the youngest age at which criminal charges can be brought against a person in Canada. Both girls’ identities are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which prohibits the disclosure of the names of anyone under 18 accused or convicted of a crime.

WATCH | Two girls confessed to violently attacking a 55-year-old woman:

Two girls plead guilty to violent attack on 55-year-old woman

CBC’s Madeline Smith was in the courtroom to hear what happened when two girls attacked a woman at the Coliseum LRT station in 2023.

According to court records, both teens were receiving intervention services from the province at the time of the attack.

The court heard the details of the attack

According to information read and agreed in court on Tuesday, the attack began after one of the girls became angry after having a “verbal exchange” with the victim, who was sitting on a bench at the transit station.

The court heard the woman raised her arm in a “defensive” position, bent it at the elbow and both girls began punching the woman in the face.

One of the girls dragged the woman from the bench to the ground, and she and the other girl stepped on the woman repeatedly. The woman stood up and pushed them, but the attack continued.

One of the girls stopped and eventually another pulled the other away, but he returned for the last time and continued to trample the woman, who was then lying motionless on the ground.

The girl was very drunk at the time and there was a “marked difference” in her behavior compared to when she was sober, according to admitted facts presented in the Oct. 23 criminal complaint.

Police arrested the couple near the Coliseum station shortly after the attack.

Both girls are scheduled to be sentenced in January.