Four teenage girls have been spared jail despite admitting being part of an attack on an Egyptian student who later died.

Mariam Moustafa was punched several times near a bus stop in Parliament Street, Nottingham, on 20 February last year.

The engineering student suffered a stroke after being taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre and died at Nottingham City Hospital on 14 March.

Two 18-year-old girls – Rochelle Dobbin and Netesha Lewis – and two 16-year-olds admitted affray in connection with the assault, which was “to do with a boy”.

Despite District Judge Timothy Spruce describing the attack as “truly shocking”, the girls were handed referral orders.

Nottingham Crown Court previously heard that pathologists could not “legally link” the attack with Mariam’s death.

Sentencing the girls at Nottingham Youth Court, Mr Spruce said a “charge of murder or manslaughter, which it could easily have been, was not available to the prosecution”.

He added: “The atmosphere was clearly one of fear and intimidation. It is a particularly concerning aspect of this case that certain parts of this incident were recorded and put on social media.

“The clear aim was to film Mariam in a distressed and humiliated state.”

Explaining why a custodial sentence had not been passed, Mr Spruce said a defendant must be sentenced in accordance with the age they were at the time of the offence, even if they had since become an adult.

He said that “custody should always be a last resort for young people” and the court should “focus on rehabilitation wherever possible”.

Lewis will be the subject of an “intense” referral order for 12 months, Dobbin for six months, and the two 16-year-old girls for nine months and six months.

Last week, Mariah Fraser, 20, was ordered to spend eight months in a young offenders’ institution for her part in the attack.

Britania Hunter, 18, was given a 12-month community order and told to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work, and a 16-year-old girl was remitted back to youth court with a view to a referral order.

Passing sentence, Gregory Dickinson QC said it was “not an attack motivated by hostility to race or religion. It was to do with a boy”.

Mariam’s father, Mohamed Moustafa, has previously described the charge of affray as “very stupid, very weak” and “not strong enough”.

The family were not at Wednesday’s hearing, and said in a statement: “We refused to attend the hearing because we believe that this case is a well played movie under the name of justice.

“We lost our daughter and we will never get her back, we came to the Court of Law to get justice for her and for everyone else to live safely in this land.

“However, the system failed to get justice for Mariam.”

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