‘Is my daughter really going to get justice?’ Mom angry it took months to charge woman for allegedly assaulting child in pool

Tamara Brown will finally have her day in court.  

It’s been a long time coming. Nearly three months.

In early October, her nine-year-old daughter, Amarah, was assaulted at a hotel pool in Dartmouth. At the time, she was taking part in a friend’s birthday party when a woman yanked her out of the water by her ponytail. 

Brown’s daughter was hurt and has been to the IWK Health Centre in Halifax twice for injuries to her scalp. Patches of her hair had been pulled out of her head, said her mom.

Since the assault, the Dartmouth mom has been after Halifax Regional Police to hold the woman accountable.

Four days before Christmas she got news that there’d been a break in the case. She got an email from a police investigator in Halifax letting her know that a woman had been charged with assault causing bodily harm and would appear in Dartmouth provincial court on Feb. 29.  

Brown’s relieved that charges have been laid but she’s upset that she’s had to fight so hard to get justice for her daughter.  

For weeks, she says, she was strung along by police. 

The woman charged with assault lives in Newfoundland and Labrador. She left before Halifax police spoke with her, and they were working with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

Brown said she was told three times that the woman would be arrested but each time it ended up being delayed.  

She said she believes that the woman was given special treatment. Before being charged, the woman was given time to speak with a lawyer, Brown said.  

“They were giving her time to get legal advice before they even charged her,” said Brown. “They’ve been neglecting the fact that my daughter is the victim. They were catering to this woman who hurt my daughter.”

SaltWire detailed Brown’s ordeal last month. A week after the story was published, Brown got an email from an investigator with Halifax police and the RCMP’s integrated special victims section telling her that the woman had been charged.

In the end, Brown said, she believes police have not treated her daughter’s case with the urgency it deserves. 

The assault was captured by a camera at the hotel pool. Police have the video, and Brown has asked several times to see it but has been denied.  

“The way that the system has been moving, I can’t help but to question: Is my daughter really going to get justice?”

Brown said she and her daughter have been left emotionally scarred. Since the assault happened, Amarah was diagnosed with trauma-induced migraine and has been prescribed medication.

Police generally do not comment on ongoing investigations. Contacted about this case, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said it does not discuss whether a complaint has been received. 

However, Halifax Regional Police, when asked about the incident in the pool, said that there was a report of an assault by a stranger on a youth at a hotel in Dartmouth and that it is under investigation.