A gay man was hospitalised on Sunday, October 1 after a gang attacked him in broad daylight as he walked along Chadwell Heath High Road in London.
Callum Griggs, 23, was kicked and punched by the gang while he was walking with his partner, Brad Balueta, who spoke to Yahoo News. “I had spotted them and had put my head down. I am aware of situations and hoped we could just walk past, but they began to fire homophobic slurs at us, calling us ‘batty boys’ and ‘fags’.
“Callum calmly asked them what they said, and one told him he knew where he lived, then named the street, and told him, “I will kill you”.
“I am out and proud but in all my life I have never felt so scared. He clearly knew where my boyfriend lived, and was very aggressive.”
Balueta said the gang were aged around 18 to 20 years old and were standing outside a takeaway. Balueta said they began to jeer each other on, and that one grabbed a wooden panel with nails in.
He said: “He started waving it around, and near Callum’s face. They seemed to feed off each other and got more aggressive.”
TW: HOMOPHOBIA/BLOOD/VIOLENCE !!!
1/10/23 @ 5:30ish pm, my boyfriend and i were victims in a hate crime/assault against us in CHADWELL HEATH, EAST LDN. we were walking along the high rd where a group of 6-7 boys were outside a fast food shop calling us batty boys/fags/etc… pic.twitter.com/PoeZ77cfDn
— الكلبة (@xbrrad) October 2, 2023
As the situation escalated, the couple saw people inside shops watching, but no one came to their aid.
Balueta said: “It is all a bit hazy after that – one of them went for Callum, he grabbed his shirt then another sucker-punched him in the back of the head.
“I was terrified, they were piling on to him and it was three on one. They were punching and kicking him.
“So many people were staring but nobody came to help.”
The attack lasted several minutes before the group fled, with one laughing as he shouted at Griggs: “I’ve got your blood on my hands.”
Women in a passing car saw Griggs’s injuries and stopped to help. They took the pair home where they called police, who told them to go to hospital. After treatment – Griggs suffered a gash in his eye that needed to be glued back together – the pair returned home and called police again.
Balueta says they were told they would receive a visit on Monday, October 2 but no one arrived. They were then told officers would visit later that day, then on Tuesday, October 3 but said nobody came to take statements until the morning of Wednesday, October 4.
“We wanted to go public because so many people just watched and did nothing,” said Balueta.
“This has been happening to our community for years and is still happening in front of our very eyes today.
“Verbal or physical, homophobia and transphobia is a real thing, it needs to be called out.”
The government has revealed that there are more than 24,000 hate crimes per year against people because of their sexual orientation.
Home Office data published on Thursday showed that in the year to March 2023, the most recent period for which data is available, there were 24,102 hate crimes against people in Britain because of their sexual orientation.
You must be logged in to post a comment.