Bulgarian siblings who assaulted girls in Dundee to appeal against sentences

Two Bulgarian siblings who assaulted young girls during an incident in Dundee last year, which led to a widely shared video on social media, are to appeal against their sentences.

Ilia Belov, 23, and his sister Nadjedzha Belova, 20, were sentenced at the city’s sheriff court earlier this month.

It followed an incident in the Lochee area of the city in August 2025 in which a young girl could be seen brandishing an axe and a knife.

Elon Musk was among those to share the video, saying the girl was trying to defend herself.

Police had initially attacked “misinformation” around the video.

However, Police Scotland said its own initial response “did not fully reflect the situation”.

Belov was sentenced to 18 months of supervision, 300 hours of unpaid work, and had his name placed on the sex offender register for 18 months for making sexual remarks to the girl and her friends.

He was found guilty following a trial at Dundee Sheriff Court earlier this year.

Belova, 20, earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of assaulting a 13-year-old girl during the same incident.

She was sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid work during the same hearing at Dundee Sheriff Court.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed on Tuesday that an appeal against the sentences had been lodged.

During the trial, the court heard the incident began when Belov made sexual remarks to a 12-year-old as she walked towards a bus stop with some other girls.

Belov then phoned his sister, who arrived shortly afterwards and began attacking a 13-year-old member of the group.

In the ensuing fracas, Belov pushed the 12-year-old, who told the court she hit her head on a metal handrail as she fell to the ground.

After standing back up, the girl pulled out an axe and a knife, which she said had been hidden in her waistband for five to 10 minutes before the incident.

When the police arrived minutes later, the girl said she had dumped the weapons on a nearby roundabout, where they were later recovered by officers.

Belov had denied having made sexualised remarks to the girls, telling the court they had been saying derogatory things to him, including calling him a “f****** migrant”.

However, Sheriff Niven-Smith rejected Belov’s version of events, describing it as “neither credible nor reliable”.