Teenage girls film attack on former police officer in WA's far north

Teenagers film attack on former German police officer visiting Broome Sat 8 Aug 2026 at 9:25am , updatedSat 8 Aug 2026 at 9:27am In short: A group of five girls attacked and filmed a former German police officer visiting Broome in northern Western Australia. The woman says she was discouraged by a disinterested response from local police. What's next? Broome police have confirmed they are investigating the incident. A former police officer attacked and filmed by a group of teenage girls in Western Australia's Kimberley says she feels unsafe remaining in town. Sina, who did not want her surname published, is a German expat who has been staying in Australia on a working holiday visa. She and a friend were riding through Broome, 2,000 kilometres north of Perth, on Monday when they passed the group of five teenage girls. "They were shouting to us and we asked, 'What's the matter?' and … we stopped because we couldn't hear them," Sina said. "Then they start running in our direction with sticks and that was the moment we realised we should go." The women tried to ride away but reached a dead end. Sina said the group was "waiting for us at the end of the street" when they turned their bikes around. "They tried to attack us, chased us through the park, I said, 'Stop it, otherwise I'll call the police' and this made them angrier," she said. "They just threw balls on my head, a basket on my head, luckily I wore a helmet … then they had sticks, they had stones, they were throwing it at my friend and me. "I felt like I'm not a human any longer for them; I'm not worth it." Sina said one of the girls was filming the incident on her phone, with the teenagers attempting to break their bicycles. The attack left them both bruised and bleeding, with scratches on their knees, stomach and back. Police's 'lazy' response When the women eventually escaped, they immediately contacted Broome police. But Sina said she received a disinterested response that struck her as "a bit lazy". She said police told her it "wouldn't make sense" to proceed because Sina's impending departure from the country would mean the case could not go to court. The former officer was also told the girls would be unlikely to receive any serious consequences due to being under 16. "I called the police for a reason, not to just tell them my story and just have a chat," Sina said. "It doesn't matter if I'm in Germany or in Australia, because at the end, it's a crime. "I'm on a video, I don't want to be on this video so there are two crimes to punish; the hurting me and they took a video of me." After enjoying her time in Broome, she said she was now wary and scared of being attacked again. A WA Police spokesperson confirmed the incident was being investigated, but was unable to make further comment. Sina said Broome police only reached out to her after the ABC's initial inquiries about the attack.