Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The mother of a young girl who was knocked unconscious by a rock at a Palmerston party opens up about the ordeal

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The mother of a young girl who was knocked unconscious by a rock at a Palmerston party opens up about the ordeal · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And we are going to be heading straight across actually
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: and catching up with Christine Cleary, who is the mother
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of this young girl, Kira, who was quite badly injured.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: As we've seen now, you may have indeed seen the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: vision which emerged over the weekend of this shocking situation
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: in Palmerston, a party turned violent after a gathering of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: around twenty friends descended into chaos when a large group
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: gate crashed with violence breaking out. Now we now know
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that a talented young girl lays injured in hospital after
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: this rock was hurled, striking her in the skull, causing
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: extensive injuries and in just well. Actually joining me on
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the line right now is Kira's mum, Christine. Good morning
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to you, Christine.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: How are you not too bad? Christine? Can you must,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, can you tell us how your daughter is going?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: At this point, she's just been calling me asking me
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: to come up to hospital. So say we're up for
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: another miss durable morning. Um, yeah, so I'm going to
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: get up there as quickly as I can. She doesn't
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: like that hospital, let me tell.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: You no, Christine, I mean you you must have been
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: devastated when you learned what had happened to your daughter
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: over the weekend.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, it just kind of unfolded, Katie. You know, I've
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: got a phone call at twelve thirty. He was at
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the hospital at one She had a head lack. They
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: took her in for a CT scan, came out, they said,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: we've called the neurosurgeon. I was like, okay, golly, this
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: is not very good. Then when he got there, it
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: was come up and or shady X rays and she
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: had a depressed gull fracture at the size of about
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: just bigger than a fifty cent piece.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Christine, what followed after that point?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: We had to wait until surgery at seven point thirty mm.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: And yeah, it was a long way, but you know,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: being at a party she'd had, they were worried about
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: her food intake because she was going under a general anesthetic.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: But can I say at this point, well, I have
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the opportunity. Every member of staff at Wills are in hospital,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: regardless the emergency department, I see higher tendency Ward three A.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: The staff have been absolutely phenomenal.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: That is really good to hear. And you know, Christine,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: how you would have been feeling on Saturday night with
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: your your She's alive.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: It's always a good point. It wasn't her frontal lobe,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: it wasn't her rear lobe. So from the outset we
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: knew that if it was going to hit her brain,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: that that was probably the best place. And then when
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: they did the surgery, it was about working out whether
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the membrane around the brain had been compromised, and thankfully
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: it hadn't. However, it wasn't just one piece that was fractured, like,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: there are lots of pieces in there that that've had
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: to put together. As I said before, so she's got
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: a few wires in her head now.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, Christine, Honestly, it's every parent's worst nightmare. You know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: we tried to cotton rule our children throughout their lives,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: but they get to a point where we can't. You know,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: you're happy for them to go to a party. She's
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: gone to a party where you're expecting around twenty people.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: It then gets gate crashed and what unfolds is unbelievable.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, any parents worst nightmare.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me from your perspective what actually happened?
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: You know, at that party on the weekend.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: So the party was, you know, between twenty and thirty people.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: It was quiet, they were all well behaved. Father then
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: said to his ex wife it's shutting down now, it's
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: you know, they're all going home. And it was at
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: that point that a gang of twenty or more people
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: turned up and tried to get in the gate, and
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: then there were people that tried to stop them getting
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: in the gate, and then it went from zero to
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: one hundred in a matter of minutes.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I've seen the vision, and you know, I've seen the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: moment where that rock gets hurled. I'm sure you have
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: as well, Christine.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: I have, I have. It's terribly confronting. But every bit
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: of vision that comes out of that incident is terribly confronting.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: You know, bj being dragged along the grounds. Just the violence.
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  Speaker 2: I don't understand. I don't know what is wrong with
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  Speaker 2: these kids. Why are they angry? Why are they looking
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: to fight? I don't I don't get it.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't get it either. And you know, then
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: when you see the the injury sustained, particularly for your
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: little girl, it's you know, it is it's just absolutely senseless.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, I agree, Yeah, so you know, why are they out,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Why are they roaming the street? Why are they angry?
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: You know, what are they looking for? They're they're they're
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: lashing out. You know, I've said this before, and I
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: know it's maybe going to sound stupid, but I actually
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: feel for that young man as well. It's it's just outrageous.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: He everybody in town knows my daughter, you know, they
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: all know everyone. It's going to be really difficult for
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: him to come back to town, and we've tried to
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: we've tried to smother the rhetoric of retribution, but there's
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: got to be an intervention somehow with these kids.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: So by the sounds of it, you're worried now for
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the safety of this young bloke that's thrown the rock.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I'm jeff Well, you know, he by all accounts with
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the boarding school in Victoria, he was going into draft year,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: was going into year twelve next year, and then into draft.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: So now I understand, and this is all he say
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: that he's been asked to leave the school and his
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: future has been destroyed by this incident.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: It just goes to show like it just shows you how,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: you know, how everybody's lives then are so negatively impacted
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: by this one not.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Kira's friends, her first class, her closest nick group,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: they were all there. Yeah, they were all on the
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: ground with her unconscious. You know, they're blaming themselves for
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: being the you know it's yes, Kira and I are
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: going through a terrible, terrible time. But the repercussion and
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: the length you know that it stretches to that people
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: are affected is pretty phenomenal.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Christine, what is your message, you know, for if I, like,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know that they will be listening, but for
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: any of those young kids that were there, Kira's friends,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: but you know, any of them that were there, Like,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: what would you say to them if you haven't already
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: spoken to them?
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Make love not war?
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Oh, you're so right, Hey, can you tell me? You
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: know what is what's the prognosis now for Kira? I
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: know that she's a really talented young sportswoman. I know
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that she's a real firecracker by the sounds of it,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: she's a lovely kid. She's got the world at her feet.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: What's her prognosis?
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Well, at the moment, there's still a lot of confusion,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: and she's pretty funny when she's confused. She's really still
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: maintains her sense of humor, which is amazing. I don't know,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: slow and steady. She just has to heal, you know
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: that long, long term she'll be fine, but it's a
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: it's a major head injury. And you know they're talking
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: about staggered return to school and staggered work and you
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: know she can't drive and she can't play footy for
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: twelve months and so it's just we just have to
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: make adjustments.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Now, Christine, what grade is she in at school? Is
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: she in year twelve?
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Year eleven?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's gonna it'll be tough. I mean, she's
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: she loves her footy as well, does she?
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she loves the sisters.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the brothers of what a legend. Well, can you
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: pass on our love to Kira please and please let
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: us know how she progresses, just very quickly. Have you
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: had any sort of update from the police or you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: in terms of where to next with with what's going
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: on on the weekend?
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: No, No, they're still investigating. Just yeah, any questions, Well.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: There's so many questions. Yeah, and there's so much that
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: needs to be worked on here. I mean, honestly, if
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: like you spot on, we've got a like. I don't
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: know how we sought this out, but what's unfolded over
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the weekend shocking.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: We live in the best city in Australia, we live
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: in the best country in the world. We're so privileged.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Oh Christine, I really appreciate you talking to me this morning.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: You are an incredible woman and you know the strength
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: but also the love that you are demonstrating makes me
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: feel quite emotional actually, so I really appreciate you having me. Yeah,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with me. You're
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: a good woman and so much love to your beautiful daughter.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you.