Gay basher walking free

Gay basher walking free

A gay couple beaten with metal poles is still waiting for justice three months after they were attacked in a Blacktown street.
Greg Harland, 27, and his 21-year-old partner Aaron Warnecke were assaulted by men wielding beer bottles and baseball bat-sized metal bars. The incident followed an altercation at an RSL club 90 minutes earlier where a man, who is known to the pair, called them fucking faggots and lunged at them.
But three months after the attack Blacktown Police are yet to press charges or lodge an AVO. This is despite the fact that one of the attackers identified by the pair lives just minutes from the victims.
Harland was hit in the head by the attackers, before turning to see a group of men running towards him and Warnecke, throwing beer bottles.
I just yelled to Aaron and Corey [Aaaron’s brother] to run, Harland told Sydney Star Observer. This guy had a bottle in his hand and I’m just trying to avoid it by running up the road in awkward directions and then eventually he hit me with the bottle. I remember smelling beer. I could feel punches.
He was then attacked with a metal bar, which he wrestled from the man, before turning to see Warnecke being attacked by the same man who verbally assaulted them at the RSL.
He was running towards Aaron with the bar and then the next minute I see him whack Aaron. Aaron went down on his knees, Harland said.
He just went plonk. He was convulsing … he was just making this really blood-curdling moan, and then he just went out. I thought this was the end for Aaron, I honestly thought he was going to die.
Warnecke spent two weeks in Blacktown Hospital with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. He could not walk or talk, had migraines, ongoing vomiting and intense sensitivity to light and noise.
He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He still gets daily migraines and has short-term memory problems which have forced him to postpone his studies and delay pursuing work. He may need brain surgery and is in therapy to regain his memory and cognitive skills.
Harland also has post-traumatic stress disorder and cannot work. Both suffer from ongoing nightmares about the attack.
On the night of the attack, Harland spoke to a Blacktown Police constable. According to him, the interview took no longer than 10 minutes and no notes were recorded.
The constable was insinuating that we had started the argument. He was pretty uninterested in what I had to say, Harland said.
I said to him, -˜Are you able to get the video footage from inside the club? That will clearly show that this guy was highly aggressive to us’, and he’s just gone, -˜Don’t fucking tell me how to do my job, I’ve been a fucking police officer for 14 fucking years’.
It took police three days to get in contact with Harland to lodge a report.
Despite the pair knowing the name of one of the attackers, police have not pressed charges and have stymied requests for an AVO.
In fact police only started AVO proceedings after Harland and Warnecke lodged a complaint with the NSW Ombudsman. In July the pair went to Blacktown Court to see the AVO lodged, only to be told police had not served the papers. They will return to the court later this month.
Harland said repeated attempts to get information from Blacktown Police had failed, as had requests they treat the incident as a hate crime.
When I mentioned the hate crime stuff he’d say, -˜Don’t play the gay thing … an assault’s an assault. We don’t care if you’re straight, gay, transgendered or even bended’, Harland said.
[The constable] just keeps saying, -˜We’re looking at charging him, we’re not sure when, we might just question him and charge him at a later date.
I just feel so hopeless. Here am I taking Aaron to the hospital and doing all that, we’re having to travel suburbs away to do our shopping and all this time it’s just not being taken seriously.
A spokeswoman for NSW Police Media said, a number of lines of inquiry have been pursued by Blacktown Local Area Command, who have been investigating the alleged assault.
Those inquiries have now been finalised and a brief of evidence is being prepared with the view to obtaining further legal advice in relation to potential charges.
Further comment could not be provided on the case to protect the integrity of the investigation and any judicial proceedings and no explanation was given as to why it had taken so long for police to put an AVO in place.
Blacktown police station does not have its own Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officer, but shares one with the nearby Quakers Hill station.

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101 responses to “Gay basher walking free”

  1. Everyone is backing off from retribution. I wouldn’t do it myself. But gay men are quite capable of bashing a homophobe with a metal bar. Is that going to be the only we way we get any respect from the public and the cops?

    I disagree with David that gays can stay in the suburbs and avoid the “dead Oxford St induction process”. Oxford St’s not very safe but at least gay couples can live in the inner city with a certain amount of dignity. We sure as hell can’t in Blacktown and most other outer reaches of humanity.

  2. it depends John you can take one out on your behalf but in a severe case like this the police should have taken one on their behalf

  3. Police have failed on this big time and they are suppose to have extra power these days…this makes my blood boil.

  4. Is it up to the police to pursue AVOs or private citizens?

    Take the AVO out yourselves and while you are at it threaten some legal action over the police’s inept conduct in this matter.

    Better yet…. No can’t go there!

  5. My sympathy goes out to Greg & Aaron. Fortunately I have never had anything like this happen to me, but I have learned to be streetwise and steer clear of potential trouble and the police, because as this case demonstrates you just cannot trust them, despite having gay & lesbian liaison officers. Although there are good and well intentioned police officers out there, unfortunately there are too many who who are not very bright thugs who inappropriately use the power they have, and are certainly not friendly to the gay & lesbian community.

  6. Wow! I really must be lucky or very sheltered. At 32 and having NEVER experienced something like this, I just am amazed that our lives still have to be so “hidden” just to stay safe! What the!

    As a very openly gay man, and one whom is quite successful in my life, I wouldn’t expect that this could still be such a big issue. As a human race, we are supposed to be tolerant of each other. However, like David above said – get the posse of poofs and dykes and lets go bashing… But then, we would be the same wouldn’t we?

    I am not a person who cares much for abuse of any sort so wouldn’t even go there – but how outrageous is such an cowardly act! And that’s the point. These guys that did it are the biggest cowards around, yet funnily they are the ones rewarded. Such a terrific community that we have to live in when those that cause pain are the ones rewarded.

    NSW Police (and my former partner is a former officer of NSW Police – and was quite high up) need to reassess themselves. People are people and we PAY for these idiots to keep our community safe!

  7. i am officially speechless… this is just disgusting and fucking immature of the police and everybody involved in the bashing.. they need to get the fuck over themselves!! i’m sick on this area… blacktown, Windsor,penrith THE HAWKESBURY!! its all a fucking hole get out while u can!!

  8. God… It’s so sad to see that with as far as we have come there are still people who are that absent minded they see the GLBT community as another race. So many people accept the GLBT community now as just another culture of Australia yet there are still these idiots who have no idea at all… funnily enough i can almost guarantee the idiots who did this won’t be well educated, homophobes rarely are. As for the police, they should be ashamed of themselves. It doesnt surprise me that this hasn’t gone any further than a gay newspaper… if this were a str8 couple it would be all over the national media and taken straight to the government. Someone needs to alert the government, i would, but have no idea how. If you do know how to then get in contact with the department of defense or whatever it is. It will get some publicity then. We need to make this seen to the public and make them greive with us so that they too will willingly help erradicate gay bashings.. this is insane and intollerable

  9. Appalling and enraging.

    It shouldn’t take a protesting crowd, complaint to the Ombudsman or coverage in the SSO to get Police to do their job.

  10. Get a posse of gay guys and go beat the sh*te out of the attackers! …. hmmm, nevermind.

  11. I am appalled at the serious nature of this crime, and blacktown polices lack of interest. As a n ex blacktown chic, im appalled at the actions of the locals however not suprised. I have also seen similiar police interest in a straight assault, and a DV matter where they told me to sort it out. My ex came back with a knife after they failed to serve the AVO. Assault needs to be taken seriously gay, straight or bent, but how dare the cop say that. Hate Crimes should be treated equal to terrorist threats, they can both be deadly serious. Gay and Lesbian police officers are still scarce, because their fellow officers treat them with a lack of respect. Come on Coppers, this is simply not on.

  12. Granted, the nature of this incident is hardly surprising, but that does not mean we should dismiss the problem as, “nothing has, or will ever change”. Great work to the team at SSO, keep fighting the good fight. Hopefully the victims will see justice served, if not, there will be the next case and the next case, and I cannot help hoping, that one day, equal rights will be a reality.

  13. it’s time to fight back. if the police won’t do anything, then we MUST fight back and destroy these cowards. If the bigots refuse to live in peace and tolerance with us, then we will force them. Homophobia must come to an end NOW. NO more excuses and no more apologies.

  14. I’m from Perth and reading this makes me so angry. I can’t believe this still goes on. I hope all works out for the couple. Here’s to a speedy recovery and justice!

  15. the victims are gay; of course, sadly, the authorities don’t appear motivated to pursue the case! wot’s new?

  16. Why am I so not surprised by this story – It is in the hands of the homophobic NSW Police…nothing has changed!

    They have the interest and resources to harass partygoers at Inquisition but when it comes to investigating a violent hate crime against 2 young gay men nothing is done -typical!!!

  17. As more & more gays stay in the suburb or area they grew up in, we need better police education across the board.
    Young gays no longer need (or can afford) to move to Paddington to live to meet a partner. With the internet, they can freely select the partner of thier dreams whilst remaining in thier own suburb (& without having to go through the now long dead Oxford St Induction process).
    Hate Crime legislation with mandatory reporting is what’s needed to break the police apathy.
    The RSL Club should also be pursued- they should have freely provided the footage, instead of hiding these coward’s crimes by thier inaction. The head of the RSL needs to be contacted for an explanation.

  18. Hi incident once again proves that gay people in our community are treated as second rate citizens, if the couple was a straight couple then the incident would have been investigated and the proper people charged, but because we are gay this treatment from the police proves to society that its ok to bash a gay guy for any reason you want.

    The government needs to step in and order the police to treat us as equals at the end of the day we are all humans just because what we do in the bedroom is different to society doesn’t mean we should accept this or be treated differently.

  19. It’s deeply disappointing that in an apparently pluralist and modern society such as Australia homosexuals are still targetted by closed-minded groups, and even more upsetting that the police and other authoritarian figures who we turn to for support and protection do not have efficient enough systems in place to deal with such incidents. As a young gay man I can only hope that such blatant hate crimes will come to an end within my lifetime, to make our supposedly progrssive country safer for future generations.

  20. well goes to show where we stand towards the Australian police force see nothing will get done because there would not have been enough witness’s so the police have nothing to worry about but if there was more witness’s then be a different story or as soon as we go to make a stand about it we get shut down the Australian police to to far one sided

  21. this is absolutely disgusting. we are in the 21st century and yet we still face discrimination and prejudice against us from the very peopl who’s job is to protect the community. last time i checked, GLBT were part of the human community.i bet if this had happened to that coppers child he would have acted straight away and not stopped until charges were laid

  22. I happen to be one of the staff in Westmead hospital who assisted in Aaron’s recovery and i am disgusted in Blacktown Police’s conduct as i have been present also as they are friends(Aaron and Greg)and feel an investigation into the Blacktown police is warranted into their stance on homophobia, they still let these people assault gay and lesbian people on oxford st. i worked at westmead for just over four years and have seen at least twenty of these assaults and Aaron and greg’s are one of the worst cases. Also again the police delayed investigations and prosecutions in most of these cases.

    Benathen

  23. This story does not surpise me one bit. I wonder how the police would be treating the assult if it was a married hetrosexual couple ? And the police wonder why we sometimes don’t report hate crimes.