Expectant mum, unborn baby not expected to survive Perth rock attack
The family of a pregnant woman have been told she has just hours to live after a brutal attack in a Perth shopping centre car park.
Doctors have declared Diane Miller brain dead following the vicious assault the 30-year-old’s brother says she “never even saw coming", Nine News reported.
The woman, who already has an eight-month old son, was picking up dinner from Karawara’s Waterford Plaza in the city’s south on Tuesday night with her partner when they became embroiled in a fight among a group of young men.
According to relatives, the brawling group had gathered behind the family’s car, preventing them from leaving. When asked to move on, a piece of concrete was hurled through an open window, striking Ms Miller in the head and sending her into cardiac arrest.
While emergency services rushed to the scene, members of the public and police officers carried out CPR before Ms Miller, who is five months pregnant, was taken to hospital.
On Wednesday night Inspector Brett Baddock said Ms Miller remained in a critical condition in intensive care but that the baby was still alive. However her family confirmed the worst on Thursday morning, saying they’d been told by doctors she has just eight hours to live.
“Once she has gone, [her] baby’s gonna pass away too,” Ms Miller’s brother Malcolm Clifton told Nine News. “She didn’t even see it coming,” he added. “It hit her straight in the temple.”
Teen charged over the ‘senseless’ act
A 17-year-old man from Kensington has been charged with grievous bodily harm and breach of bail following the incident.
Inspector Brett Baddock believes the group of teenagers and young men involved in the melee were known to each other and had “gone out looking for trouble” and “found it".
He said more may be charged in the wake of the incident. “We want justice served and we want these people caught,” he said.
Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or who has mobile phone or dashcam footage of the scene in the carpark is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
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