Shocked by girl's attack
CAIRNS woman Pippa Knapp is still in shock after being punched in the face and robbed by two teenage girls who pulled up next to her in a car with a baby in the back seat.
Ms Knapp, 20, and friend Kimberley Stewart noticed the car being driven "suspiciously" as they walked along Gatton St just after midnight on Saturday.
Ms Knapp was stunned when the car pulled over next to them and a girl, believed to be about 17, got out of the car and
attacked her.
The bashing left Ms Knapp with cuts to her mouth, a twisted ankle and grazing to her legs.
It comes just a week after a 23-year-old woman was brutally bashed in Water St, with a friend of the victim offering a $5000 reward for information on her attacker.
Ms Knapp said the bizarre attack was over in a matter of seconds.
"I stepped out on to the road and said ‘what are you doing?’ and one of the girls said ‘what are you doing, I have an eight-month-old in the car’," Ms Knapp said.
"I realised it was a woman so I thought it wasn’t a stalker and everything would be OK."
Ms Knapp said the girl got out of the car, punched her and ripped the bag from her
shoulder.
The attacker threw the bag, containing $100 in cash and vouchers, a teardrop necklace, camera and identification, to the other girl in the car.
"After they got my bag, I ran towards the car yelling out the number plate to the driver," she said.
Ms Knapp used her mobile phone to call the police as the car drove off.
"It is bad enough with the blokes bashing girls but I was shocked a chick would do that, especially being a mother," she said.
"It was a cowardly, heartless act."
Ms Knapp said apart from her injuries, she had been physically ill four times from the shock.
The circumstances of the attack were similar to a recent robbery involving a bag snatch by a female passenger of a car on Minnie St with the victim dragged alongside the car as it sped off.
But police said there was no evidence linking that attack with the bashing and robbery of Ms Knapp.
Police are hunting two women aged about 17 with the main offender described as being Caucasian of chubby build with blonde hair and the other described as having dark hair.
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Hit and robbed: Pippa Knapp (front) and friend Kimberley Stewart at the location near Cairns TAFE where they say they were attacked.
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