Further homophobic violence in the Valley

Further homophobic violence in the Valley

A GAY man has allegedly been the victim of another homophobic assault in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley last weekend – the second in almost three weeks.

The man, who asked to be identified as DJ Fradge, was leaving premises on McLachlan St on Saturday night after finishing work at a party and noticed a group of eight men apparently loitering around the car park of the venue.

After asking the men what their purpose was at the venue or with its car park, and later asking the group to leave, Fradge was allegedly on the receiving end of homophobic language and abuse.

“They were looking very suspicious and asked them to move on. They were loitering around cars with who knows what sorts of valuables in them,” Fradge told the Star Observer.

Members of the group allegedly yelled “fucking faggot, get in your faggot car,” before they brought him to the ground and kicked his head and jaw three times before leaving the scene.

Fradge went home after being cleaned up and taken care of by staff at the venue. The alleged attack left him with significant bruising, swelling and some hearing loss.

Fradge was in contact with an LGBTI liaison officer at the Fortitude Valley police station and was due to file a statement at the time of print.

The incident comes on the back of another alleged homophobic assault in the Valley involving a couple, which left one man with a busted lip that required stitches. According to police, the alleged attacker was let go from the scene by attending officers due to conflicting evidence with another witness. Johann De Joodt and Brian Bugden lodged their statements to police recently.

The incident left the couple questioning their safety, and due to their concerns, they only wanted to deal with trained LGBTI liaison police officers.

“I was very frustrated by the whole incident and follow-up because I had to get Brian to a point where he was willing to go to the police daily because of the complications with arranging a time to meet a liaison officer,” De Joodt said.

“Brian was experiencing anxiety on a daily basis.”

Questioning why the couple only wanted to deal with an LGBTI liaison officer, De Joodt said that an officer at the Fortitude Valley police station told the couple that he and any other police could handle their case instead.

The couple indicated they were going to lodge a formal complaint about the officer’s conduct, but De Joodt praised the efforts and work of the liaison officer who finally was able to look after their case.

Queensland Police declined to comment on the couple’s claims involving the officer’s conduct, citing a formal complaint needs to be made before they could.

Meanwhile, when contacted regarding the recent incident involving Fradge, a spokesperson from the police said: “There is no evidence or suggestion that people identifying as LGBTI are being targeted specifically in assaults in the Fortitude Valley or Brisbane nightclub precincts.

“All officers working in the precincts and other areas are well trained and treat people equally regardless of sexual orientation, race, religion or age.”

 

 

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4 responses to “Further homophobic violence in the Valley”

  1. They called him a ‘f##king faggott’ so they obviously thought he was gay. Makes it highly obvious that it was a homophobic attack. Oh and aren’t they big brave boys, 8 against 1. Gutless the lot of them!! I hope the guy is recovering okay.

  2. Frustrating. ….there was no need to go to the police daily to speak with the LGBTI officer, a simple phone call would have answered when the officer was working, after all general duties police generally work a matrix roster covering the 24hrs in a day. You cant expect to turn up at a police station and expect to speak to a particular officer when ever you want. Im also guessing the police on the night recorded the details of the offender so that they could speak to him at a later time, I dont think police can interview someone about an incident who is drunk…..

  3. I’m going to have to agree with the police spokesperson here . There has been a surge of violent assaults in Fortitude Valley recently, and there is nothing to suggest it is specifically against LGBTI people. How could this group have known this ‘DJ Fradge’ person was gay? Sounds like they were just looking for trouble and attacked the first person that provoked them. Wasn’t Graham Perrett’s nephew recently attacked in the Valley?