Attack on Mariam Moustafa not racially motivated, say police

Police investigating the death of Mariam Moustafa, an engineering student allegedly attacked by a group of women in Nottingham, have said the assault was not racially motivated after identifying the suspects.

The Egyptian teenager died from her injuries last Wednesday following the attack on 20 February, which initially left the 18-year-old in a coma.

Moustafa was reportedly punched several times during a confrontation with a group of six women while waiting for a bus in the centre of Nottingham.

She got on a bus at the scene near the Victoria Centre shopping precinct, but was followed by the same group, who it is claimed were then threatening and abusive towards her.

Following the attack, Moustafa was taken to a nearby medical centre in the city, before being transferred to Nottingham City hospital, where she was treated until her death on 14 March.

At a press conference on Monday, Ch Supt Rob Griffin of Nottinghamshire police confirmed the incident was reported as a racially motivated attack, but said the investigation has since revealed that this was not the case.

“We had recorded a hate incident, however, the investigation has progressed really well ... we have been able to establish what happened on 20 February, and all the evidence indicates that this incident is not in any way hate-related,” he said.

“We now know that a group of six girls were involved in the incident and we believe that we have identified all six of those girls.”

In the wake of the February assault, it had been reported that Mariam and her sister Malak were allegedly attacked by a gang of girls in August 2017. Her father, Mohamed Moustafa, said nothing was done as there was no CCTV footage and the girls were not known to them.

Addressing this, Griffin said: “There have been many reports about an incident in August last year where Mariam and her sister had been assaulted.

“It had been reported in the media that Mariam had broken her leg and we now know that this was not the case. The level of investigation at that time was appropriate and unfortunately no suspects were identified at the time.”

He added: “In terms of whether or not the incident in August was connected to what happened in February, we are open-minded and these investigations continue and hopefully that picture will continue to become clearer.”

Mariam’s father has called for justice for his daughter, whom he said was very kind and like an angel.

Griffin said he would remain in contact with both the Egyptian and Italian embassies throughout the course of the week.

The Nottingham-based student was born in Rome where her family had lived since moving from Egypt in 1991.