While Canberra’s Grindr attackers are still at large, police in Perth have caught four boys, aged between 15 and 17, for similarly opportunistic attacks.
Police alleged the four boys used fake profiles to lure two separate men in their 30s to vacant land in the suburbs where the group were waiting with crowbars, machetes, pepper spray and other weapons to attack them while filming the assaults; with recordings of the assaults being found on phones at the offenders’ homes along with clothing belonging to the victims.
One victim was left with serious injuries including a deep cut on his arm after the offenders stole his car; while the other victim’s car was pelted with rocks as he managed to drive away, smashing the windscreen and side of his car.
The prosecutor told the Perth Children’s Court on September 19 that these were “targeted, premeditated hate crimes”.
Meanwhile, in the British city of Birmingham, an armed gang of five men, aged between 20 and 24, have been convicted of stealing £100,000 from gay men over a 10-month period.
Police alleged in court on September 17 that the men used Grindr to lure gay men into meeting before violently assaulting them and stealing their belongings. The court heard that some of the victims were held for hours and feared for their lives while their accounts were being raided and some had to be hospitalised afterwards. The five men are due to be sentenced in late November.
