Gay bashers jailed

Three teenagers who bashed a gay couple and a man who came to the pair’s aid have been jailed by a Queensland District Court.

Melbourne couple Craig Gillard and Jamie Ronnfeldt were attacked by a group of teenagers in the early hours of January 17 in Maryborough on Queensland’s Fraser Coast.

One of the youths asked Gillard if they had come from a local gay night and called them “faggots” before knocking food out of his hands. He was then tripped over and kicked several times.

A passer-by, Ryan Wolstencroft, stepped in to help but was attacked as well and Ronnfeldt was knocked to the ground when he tried to call police.

Four youths aged between 17 and 18, were committed to stand trial for the attack in July and on November 30, two of these, Isaac Sanderson and Jason Bishop, pled guilty.

Of the other two, Corey Lees was found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm, while Dylan Hodge was found guilty of assault causing bodily harm to Ronnfeldt and grievous bodily harm to Wolstencroft.

Hodges received a sentence of two years and nine months with parole after 15 months, while Sanderson and Bishop were each sentenced to two years with parole after six months.

Lawyers for the boys, who’s pictures were published on the front cover of the local paper, said they had been shunned by their community since the attack.

In another trial earlier this year, two men who bashed a man to death in a churchyard in the town in 2008 claimed they did so after the man made a homosexual advance.

However Peter Chapman, editor of the Fraser Coast Chronicle which covered both cases, told the Star Observer they were not linked and the area, which has an active gay and lesbian social group, did not deserve a homophobic reputation.

He said there had been a rise in violence by young people in the area against members of the public over the past year and the attack on Gillard and Ronnfeldt needed to be understood in that context.

Chapman welcomed the sentences handed down on December 10.

“I have not had one person ring me up and say those sentences were too tough,” Chapman said.

“It’s about time that our court system came down heavily on people who attack people whether they be gay or straight.

“There is no place in our society for it and the judgments reflected the severity of the attack.”