The Robina Assault That Rallied the Gold Coast

On Friday, August 14, at approximately 5:40PM, a 13-year-old girl was seriously assaulted near Aldi in Robina. What followed would become one of the biggest stories we have shared through Gold Coast Crime: The Gold Coast Torch, reaching tens of thousands of people across social media and ultimately helping a family going through something no family should have to experience.

Teenagers had been gathered around the area, seemingly like any other group of school-aged kids hanging out on a Friday afternoon. Then something went terribly wrong. According to people close to the family, the 13-year-old was set upon and assaulted by other teenagers, including girls older than her.

She was knocked to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked. She eventually lost consciousness. People close to the family say the assault continued until someone intervened, before an ambulance rushed her to Gold Coast University Hospital.

The Footage Is Difficult To Comprehend

The assault was filmed, with footage subsequently circulating among teenagers and across social media platforms including TikTok. Family friend Rachael Johnstone has been communicating with The Gold Coast Torch and StreetBuzz about what the family has endured since the attack. She also provided us with footage of the incident. It's among the most confronting footage we have seen while running our Gold Coast crime communities.

The girl can be seen curled into a ball on the ground attempting to protect herself. When she lifts her head, she is kicked again with extraordinary force. Blood can be seen on the concrete as the girl attempts to get back to her feet, ending up on her knees and desperately begging for the attack to stop. According to those close to the family, she attempted to get away but was so unsteady on her feet that she fell again. Whatever preceded the altercation, watching a 13-year-old child lying vulnerable on concrete while being repeatedly attacked is extremely difficult to comprehend.

Two girls dealt with by police

Police subsequently investigated the alleged assault. A 16-year-old girl was charged with common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm in company, while a 13-year-old girl was dealt with under the Youth Justice Act for assault and wilful damage.

Police indicated they were not seeking further suspects in relation to the assault and also examined footage and images circulated online. Following police action, people associated with the alleged offenders appeared in comments surrounding coverage of the incident. According to people close to the victim, some comments were perceived as taunting the girl and her family while they were still dealing with the aftermath. The legal process now needs to run its course. The teenagers involved are minors, and allegations against those charged remain allegations unless determined by the appropriate court. For the victim and her family, however, the consequences are already very real.

The Physical Injuries Are Only Part Of It

The 13-year-old's recovery is far from over. Her family says she continues to experience significant headaches and bruising beneath her eyes and has struggled to breathe properly through her nose. Specialists at Gold Coast University Hospital have told the family that because she is still so young, some potential procedures may need to wait until her face develops further.

A remaining haematoma behind her septum has affected her ability to breathe, sleep and eat comfortably, requiring further hospital treatment. Then there is the psychological impact. According to Rachael, the girl is traumatised and does not want to return to school. Her family is considering homeschooling, while counselling and martial arts or self-defence classes are being explored to help rebuild her confidence. She is 13 years old. This is something she and her family will continue dealing with long after the social media attention disappears.

The Gold Coast Community Stepped In

When we initially shared the story through Gold Coast Crime: The Gold Coast Torch, the response was enormous. Our community of more than 80,000 members generated approximately 1,400 reactions, 700 comments and 300 shares.

Much of the discussion reflected a wider frustration about youth violence and a perception among some residents that a minority of young offenders increasingly believe they are untouchable. But outrage alone wasn't going to help this girl. After speaking with Rachael, we learned that her phone had also been smashed during the assault.

So we decided to turn some of that attention into something useful. StreetBuzz launched a GoFundMe with an initial target of $1,000, contributing the first $100 to get it moving. StreetBuzz founder Finn 'Lucci' Johnson then recorded a video explaining what had happened, why the fundraiser had been created and how the community could help.

The video was published through StreetBuzz on Facebook and Instagram before being shared into Gold Coast Crime: The Gold Coast Torch. It took off. Across social media, the video reached approximately 25,000 views, and attracted more than 350 reactions, 80 comments and 50 shares. More importantly, people started donating. The original $1,000 target was reached. Then it doubled. The fundraiser has now raised more than $2,200.

What began as an attempt to replace a smashed phone has become meaningful financial support for the girl's recovery. The family intends to purchase her a decent replacement phone, with the remaining funds helping towards counselling, self-defence classes, medical expenses and potential future procedures. They are also navigating potential victim-assistance payments. According to the family, however, some of that financial support may not become available to her until she turns 18, making the money raised by the community particularly valuable for the expenses they are facing now. The first post generated outrage. The second asked people to help. And they did. Almost 100 Gold Coasters who had never met this girl decided to put their own money behind a local family that needed it.

From A Community Post To Mainstream Media

This story also demonstrates the power of grassroots community reporting. It began with locals sharing information. StreetBuzz and Gold Coast Crime: The Gold Coast Torch amplified it. Tens of thousands of Gold Coasters saw it, hundreds discussed it and hundreds more shared it. From there, the family's story reached mainstream media, receiving coverage through the Gold Coast Bulletin, Nine's A Current Affair and Seven News (in the works). What started as a grassroots community post became a city-wide story.

Mainstream media organisations cannot see every incident occurring on every street, in every suburb, every hour of the day. Locals often see them first. The challenge is creating infrastructure that allows credible local information to move from those residents to the wider community quickly and responsibly. That is one of the problems we are trying to solve with StreetBuzz.

When Community Information Hits A Gatekeeper

There has also been a frustrating side to this story. We attempted to share the fundraiser across several suburb-based Gold Coast community groups to help the family reach more people. Most declined the post, including the Robina community group, the very community where this assault occurred. We respect that admins ultimately decide what appears in their groups, but rejecting a genuine fundraiser supporting a 13-year-old local recovering from a serious assault is incredibly disappointing. Important community information and support should not be stopped at the gate when locals are trying to rally behind one of their own. We understand that better than most because we have spent years operating large community groups ourselves.

But it highlights a wider structural problem when important local information depends entirely on the individual rules and preferences of whoever controls a particular Facebook group.

“Community group admins do not own their suburb. They do not own the stories that happen there, and they do not own the people who live there.” — Finn Lucci

We have encountered similar barriers while trying to introduce StreetBuzz, despite it being a free mobile app specifically designed around local information, public safety, crime alerts and lost, found and stolen updates. It reinforces one of the reasons StreetBuzz exists in the first place. Communities deserve infrastructure built specifically for communities.

What Are We Seeing With Some Young Offenders?

The response to the original story also opened a difficult conversation. Hundreds of comments expressed frustration about youth violence and what some described as a growing sense of young offenders being "untouchable". The overwhelming majority of young people are not assaulting people, stealing cars or terrorising neighbourhoods. Thousands of Gold Coast kids go to school, play sport, work their first jobs, spend time with friends and do the right thing every day. But the actions of a minority are causing very real harm. When violence is filmed, circulated for entertainment and turned into social media content, something has gone badly wrong. A 13-year-old should not be frightened to return to school. Her parents should not have to consider homeschooling because she no longer feels safe. She should not be undergoing hospital treatment and potentially facing future surgery following an alleged attack by other teenagers. Whatever the answers are, accountability, intervention and prevention need to occur before behaviour reaches this point.

A Note From The Founder

I also owe our readers an explanation for why The Gold Coast Torch has been quieter recently. As a solo founder, one of the hardest parts of building something from scratch is that almost everything eventually lands on my shoulders. I currently work two jobs while building StreetBuzz, effectively juggling three.

StreetBuzz has now received thousands of downloads and grown to around 800 verified Gold Coast users. Building the platform, growing its community, producing content, moderating and handling everything behind the scenes has consumed an enormous amount of my time. As a result, the investigative and long-form editorial work that originally helped spark my passion for building all of this has sometimes taken a back seat. This outlet is where much of that passion began. I love being able to take something happening within our community, investigate it further, give ordinary locals a voice and, occasionally, turn something incredibly grim into something positive. This story is a perfect example. A disturbing local post reached an enormous audience. That audience helped amplify the family's story. We then asked the community to help. And the community showed up.

I will continue doing my absolute best to publish long-form stories through The Gold Coast Torch when a story warrants deeper coverage and when time allows. I'm passionate about this city and this country, and I believe stronger communities begin with people knowing what is happening around them and looking out for one another. To everyone who supports us, subscribes, reads our articles, participates in our crime communities, donated to this young girl's fundraiser or has downloaded StreetBuzz: thank you. It is incredibly encouraging.

If you would like to continue supporting The Gold Coast Torch, our crime communities and the StreetBuzz mobile app, you can do so for less than the price of a coffee each month ☕🐝

For now, the focus belongs where it should. On a 13-year-old girl recovering from something she never should have experienced, a family trying to put the pieces back together, and a Gold Coast community that showed them they weren't doing it alone. Get well soon. The Gold Coast is behind you.

— Finn 'Lucci' Johnson
Founder, StreetBuzz & The Gold Coast Torch

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