Woman who attacked gay couple on street encouraged her 10-year-old daughter to join the abuse, claim victims
A woman in the UK launched a random homophobic attack on a gay couple after hurling abuses at them and even encouraged a young girl she was with to take part in the tirade, the victims and police said.
Simon Jenkins and his partner Ben Drawer were holding hands as they walked out of the Selly Oak train station in Birmingham, England on May 31 when the incident took place.
According to Birmingham Live, the couple was walking when they passed by a woman in her 30s with two kids who allegedly made homophobic comments.
“As we were walking, I overheard a woman use a homophobic term towards us,” said Jenkins, adding that he then “challenged her and asked her to repeat what she said, expecting her to deny it or just carry on walking and ignore us.”
The couple told the media outlet that when Jenkins confronted the woman, she allegedly hit the couple with her shoe as she called them “disgusting” and barked that they would “burn in hell,” according to the news site.
The woman “exploded with rage,” Jenkins said.
“She called us dirty bastards, shouted sexually explicit things at us and made more homophobic remarks,” said the victims.
“She shouted that ‘some people think this is OK — but I don’t’ and threatened to ‘knock us across the street,’” according to Jenkins and his partner.
As the incident unfolded, Jenkins and Drawer tried to film the encounter on a cellphone, but the woman then “slapped” the phone away and threatened to hit the couple with a plank of wood.
"She kept trying to pull my phone out of my hands and eventually smacked it out, then took off her shoe and hit us with it," Jenkins added.
“When she picked up a wooden plank and looked as though she was going to hit us with it, we ran,” he said.
Jenkins also revealed that, during the attack, the woman had two girls with her, one was about 10 and the other who was 5 or 6 years old.
“The older girl was even encouraged to join in with the homophobic abuse,” Jenkins told the media outlet.
As per reports, no arrests have been made in the attack and West Midlands Police are treating the incident as a hate crime.
The ordeal has made the couple afraid to leave their home.
“It has put us off going out holding hands,” said Jenkins, a college lecturer. “Every time I leave home with my partner, I feel like I’m going into battle.”