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.
Matthew – “I am very much for gay rights however, I don’t like it how gay people rant and rave that they have been bashed, if you don’t want to be hurt in anyway why do you frequent the area?? It’s like putting a hyena into a lions den, your going to be eaten alive!!!”
Matthew you are so wrong on so many levels, As a gay person if I was beaten up I will rant and rave to bring justice and if you don’t like that – TOO BAD. What about hetrosexuals who get bashed, do rant and rave too much for you when it features on the news or in newspapers ? Matthew your obviously hetrosexual so I wonder what would happen if you went into a gay bar and a bunch of gays bashed you I wonder what your reponse would be, especially if the police don’t give a toss ? Should it have been your own fault for going into a gay bar ? I look forward to your response.
I should add that I also find comments from David (above) ignorant and offensive:
“The problem with the western suburbs is it is part of the Hillsong Bible belt- masses of uneducated religious people who respond to the religious dog whistle messages to bash & harrass gays. The census shows that the better suburbs with higher concentrations of uni graduates are more likely to identify as athiest or agnostic.”
And what are the “better” suburbs pray tell? Newtown? Bondi? Darlinghurst? All places where you can be abused, assaulted or murdered for being gay. It’s happened numerous times.
As for the claim about people in the Western suburbs being uneducated, you may like to spell ‘harass’ and ‘atheist’ correctly or else your point could be lost. And anyway, since when did having an MA stop someone from being a bigot?
My heart goes out to Aaron, who has had his life torn apart by this horrific and senseless violence, while his attacker goes free. Think about the coverage of the Lauren Huxley case – public outpourings of sympathy and grief, her attacker hounded in the press. A young, pretty blonde woman is bashed and left for dead, and it’s diabolical. Two young gay men – well, they had it coming. How many more gay people have to be viciously attacked before something is done about the inept NSW Police?
I live in Sydney’s West and not only find Matthew’s posting anti-gay but an offensive, ignorant and inaccurate caricature of people who live in the Western suburbs. Anti-gay violence can happen anywhere. It usually happens around Darlinghurst and Surry Hills where the gay bashers know there’ll be plenty of potential victims.
Btw, I’d be interested in finding out how many straights are victims of gay men or lesbians. Do tell.
The problem with the western suburbs is it is part of the Hillsong Bible belt- masses of uneducated religious people who respond to the religious dog whistle messages to bash & harrass gays. The census shows that the better suburbs with higher concentrations of uni graduates are more likely to identify as athiest or agnostic.
This sickens me. One word….. disgraceful!
like almost all posting here i offer my sympathy and support to Greg and Aaron.
Have the local state Member of Parliament been approached
to lobby the NSW Police Minister?
Has Clover been approached ( In her role as a champion of our civil rights and as Lord Mayor of Sydney – this attack brings international shame on our city and our country)
If all else fails there is always A Current Affair – have they been e mailed?
there was an interesting article in todays daily telegraph about the courts running out of money to prosecute people and the crown prosecutor saying that if people don’t get justice thru the courts that they will inevitably turn into vigilantes. See tabloids are good for something!
well the RSL cameras show the main offender in question and the security removed this person prior to the attack i believe.
i think if homophobes diddn’t go looking for “queers” then these things wouldn’t happen at all it’s just saddening that this has happened to such model citizens being a public servant myself i am ashamed to say it. (not police) lol but these aren’t the only assaults. i have personally witnessed several attacks outside stonewall where 3 islander males jumped out of a car smashed a bottle over a young gay mans head then kicked him while he was on the ground then jumped back in the car and sped off. i think if they attack us on oxford st, we should just jump in and help eachother out it will oneday stop,it’s just going to take a long time and people are becoming more warming to GLBT people. some people just still don’t understand and think we chose to be this way..
I don’t remember choosing to be like this but i sure am happy.
Benathen
I can’t decide if I am more sickened by the perpetrators of the attack or the NSW police. It’s a tough choice.
i think vitims of gay bashing and hate crime should try and take a photo of the people that do this to you (I know this will be very hard) but if you ever got a face photo of them and post them as gay bashers on the internet I would love to run in to a gay basher by them selfs I under stand that there all wimps and only attact in packs but the vitims should have to the right to take the attacts freedom away
Mathew do you work for Blacktown police?? – It sounds like the way the police has dealt with this issue very much reflects you’re way of thinking.
If the attackers live only minutes away, we should go to their door as a group and protest with news camera’s behind us, or just simply go up to their door with lit torches.
Matthew
Aaron’s sister and the nurse at the hospital, in addition to the victims themselves, have all made it abundantly clear that this was an unprovoked attack.
What more do you want?
I get the impression you know a little more about this than just what you are reading here. Were you involved in this crime?
Is that why you have visited this website?
I can vouch For Greg and Aaron’s peasonalities and they are deffinatley not the type to pick a fight. in fact greg and Aaron are the opposite and apposed to violence Greg was a nurse and pursued other career paths. and Aaron was looking into a career in health also, they would never attempt to provoke a fight. Matthew and i also vouch once again that blacktown police have had a strong lack of interest on this matter as i have been present during phone calls and face to face conversations, all the evidence is with the police it’s just a matter of lack of interest. I can only hope that when the LAC cheif Inspector reads this that charges will be laid.
I dont think it’s fair to accuse the Victims with this severity and type of this assault. i grew up in a very homophobic community and luckily my school and the police there were very supportive. because of the crimes people were comitting to my house and property they sent the LAC inspector for the north coast to talk to my entire school to explain to everyone that 1. IT IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE TO ATTACK SOMEONE BASED ON THEIR, GENDER, SEXUAL PREFERENCE, NATIONALITY,RELIGION ECT
i believe poor education can be to blame and yes i am apposed to the raging queens running around advertising they are BUT everyone has the right to be who ever or what ever they are and no-one has the right to choose durisdiction on that or take matters into their hands, as for they way they dress. i couldnt even tell Aaron was gay when i first met him, so says alot.
And i do thank to SSO for this story as i did support greg and Aaron to do this.
maybe next story onto discrimination in the workplace. :)
But Matthew in response to your comment they did not provoke the attack at all and they do not run around screaming that the are indeed gay. however your input is taken
Thanks
Benathen
I can vouch For Greg and Aaron’s peasonalities and they are deffinatley not the type to pick a fight. in fact greg and Aaron are the opposite and apposed to violence Greg was a nurse and pursued other career paths. and Aaron was looking into a career in health also, they would never attempt to provoke a fight. Matthew and i also vouch once again that blacktown police have had a strong lack of interest on this matter as i have been present during phone calls and face to face conversations, all the evidence is with the police it’s just a matter of lack of interest. I can only hope that when the LAC cheif Inspector reads this that charges will be laid.
I dont think it’s fair to accuse the Victims with this severity and type of this assault. i grew up in a very homophobic community and luckily my school and the police there were very supportive. because of the crimes people were comitting to my house and property they sent the LAC inspector for the north coast to talk to my entire school to explain to everyone that 1. IT IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE TO ATTACK SOMEONE BASED ON THEIR, GENDER, SEXUAL PREFERENCE, NATIONALITY,RELIGION ECT
i believe poor education can be to blamed and yes i am apposed to the raging queens running around advertising they are BUT everyone has the right to be who ever or what ever they are and no-one has the right to choose durisdiction on that or take matters into their hands, as for they way they dress. i couldnt even tell Aaron was gay when i first met him, so says alot.
And i do thank to SSO for this story as i did support greg and Aaron to do this.
maybe next story onto discrimination in the workplace. :)
But Matthew in response to your comment they did not provoke the attack at all and they do not run around screaming that the are indeed gay. however your input is taken
Thanks
Benathen
I doubt the gay guys provoked the attack. Aaron’s sister says the attackers waited in ambush for two hours. In two hours any heat of the moment provocation would have dissipated. More importantly: what is provocation anyway? Just being gay, in this case. And finally, provocation or not, the gay guys are the men who were nearly killed, not anyone else. It’s an open and shut case of a hate crime and the only possibly reason the police are dragging their heels must be because their mates done it!
Heads should roll over this. The attackers should be jailed for a good long time and certain coppers should be either sacked or sent back to be properly trained somewhere. I don’t envy them working in such a low rent neighborhood, but they can’t just shrug this kind of thing off.
All well and good Editor however straight bash straight, its okay its dealt with accordingly, girl bash girl, its okay its dealt with accordingly, however if a straight bashes a gay, its all thrown up in the air. I am very much for gay rights however, I don’t like it how gay people rant and rave that they have been bashed, if you don’t want to be hurt in anyway why do you frequent the area?? It’s like putting a hyena into a lions den, your going to be eaten alive!!!
As the police said it is being dealt with accordingly, and more importantly this is only one side of the story, how do these people know who are writing in know that these are two gay people who have not provoked in any way?
We don’t, we don’t know what the character of these two people are, however because they said that are gay, and because they have said hate crime, people have automatically started rallying behind them.
Who are we to convict the people who bashed this couple, the convicted could have had a legitament reason, do you not believe so?
I personally think that this couple need to grow from this, deal with it as a bashing, and move on.
Do you see straight people on the front page of a paper crying hate crime no, I don’t think so.
Editor’s Note: Forum posters, while I agree this post is offensive, I have allowed it to go up so you can comment for yourselves. I think it offers us a unique insight into the minds of those who think it is OK to beat the crap out of someone for no other reason that their perceived sexuality.
Matthew, along your logic, I would be justified in bashing you because of your poor grasp of spelling and grammar. Does that seem fair?
Considering that the western suburbs are known to have such hate crimes; regardless of the situation people need to take a step out of the hate crime picture, and look at it outside of the box, knowing so many gays myself; they do not frequent those areas, thus far they do not put them selves at risk of being abused, or hurt.
These gay people full well knowing that the western people are not educated about the gay education etc, have been trying to stand they’re ground in a area where they know that they wont win, whether it be showing that they are gay by how they dress or present them selves, etc, however they will continue to fight, and when they come off second best, they cry the hate crime bullshit.
If you don’t want to be hurt, don’t live in the western suburbs, let alone frequent the local areas such as clubs, pubs.
Editor’s Note: Matthew, no matter how you look at it, ignorance is no excuse for violence. The point here is two people were bashed with a metal pole – be they gay, straight, black, white, male, female or whatever – no amount of reasoning excuses violent behaviour. And no amount of reasoning can justify why, three months after the attack, and despite the victims being clearly able to identify at least one of the attackers, Blacktown Police are yet to do anything about it.
HGD (August 27, 1;39pm) should know I am not using a pseudonym nor am I bashing the gay rugby group, the Convicts, and have never done so.
I am no ‘sock puppet’.
I merely point out the obvious: that quite simply, while we benignly accept hate comments in the media and do not prosecute them, they will continue.
Surely, after this bashing, really an attempted murder, HGD will realise that enough is enough – and Garry Burns needs all the support he can muster,from the whole community – the Convicts included.
Thank you.
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As Aarons sister, I witnessed abuse towards my brother and my best friend greg harland many times we have been out together in the local area, the abuse is unwarrented as soemtimes we are only having a quiet drink or a meal somewhere with these bogans swearing at my brother calling him a faggot? when we are out at “straight” clubs they dont kiss or hold hands so i wonder why these mindless idiots would approach them and call them names. I enjoy going out with my brother Aaron and greg to gay functions and events and have a wider group of beautiful gay friends i have met through them. Police need to take appropriate actions towards “hate” crimes.. and yes contstable it was a hate crime.. if your waiting in a carpark for over 2hours to bash a gay couple you not only have a hatred towards gays but you have some serious issues!! i hope to see justice done for my brother and my best friend greg, cause unfortuantly Blacktown wasnt the best place to grow up in , but that doesnt mean Blacktown police have to treat this like a bogan fight. My family are educated and have morals and decency. As a nurse we are educated to report suspected child abuse to docs, so why then if somebody is bashed severly the police are not educated to offer a protection order?
I am an escort and i have frequently been exposed to such abuse in the Penrith and Darlinghurst area! I think its disgraceful and we need to get something done about this!
Would it be too much for the usual suspect – this time using the “sock-puppet” identity of ‘Andrew’to bash the Convicts – to get on topic?
I think the subject is too important to be hijacked by tedious axe grinding about Garry Burns.
perhaps a news tv interview regarding this would be a speedy way to get Blacktown police to get a move on.
This sort of police indifference and anti-Gay hostility is almost as horrific as the crime!
GLBTI people should’nt put up with it. Firstly, here’s some contacts if you have the same or similar response from the police.
NSW Ombudsmen http://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au
Need a solicitor? http://www.lawsociety.com.au (the website spells out the different legal specialties of the solicitors involved)
Secondly, this sort police behaviour is not isolated. I suggest readers also have a look at sydneycopwatch.org to see some of the things our boys in blue have been up to and would rather you did’nt know!
NSW Police are right: horrific assaults against anyone are bad enough, regardless of gender (SSO 985). However, their own inaction over blatant homophobic crime is worse because it’s discrimination-driven.
Public anaethesia and acceptance of gay hate crimes is partly driven by media-sanctioned comments like -˜fatty’ Vautin’s, recently made on Channel Nine’s Footy Show.
Garry Burns’ right to pursue his legal claim to stop these hate-comments, despite the Convicts Rugby Club appearance on TV laundering Mr Vautin’s reputation, is therefore even more valid.
The NSW Police Force however, should be charging the accused with attempted murder, not just seeking an Apprehended Violence Order. Their non-actions are a matrix of arrogance, ignorance and negligence and are, regrettably, nothing new. They are a protected species: protected by their union to which this state government is beholden, self-protected because they think they are above the law, and protected by their media unit which has perfected the art of the lie, as exposed in mainstream print media this week.
Perhaps the Convicts, whose Rugger Bugger fundraiser is being held this coming Saturday September 4 at the Midnight Shift, can consider making a substantial donation to Gary Burns’ legal fund for freedom: freedom from hate crimes, freedom from discrimination and freedom to express a love that is equal to any other.
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Yes- outrageous, disgusting, and an unsurprising police response. After reading this, I was compelled to call Blacktown police command to find out more. The dismissive duty sergeant vaguely said it was only one side of the story, and the matter was under continuing investigation. I have personally experienced police apathy in these incidents, and suggested the police are public servants, who need to serve the public. He disagreed they were public servants!
The general police attitude towards our community seems to have again slipped back to complacency and contempt. Political lobbying and media exposure has only a short term effect, where police typically respond when their asses are kicked into action, then slowly return to their old ways of policing with the path of least resistance and minimum effort. This attitude is not unique to Blacktown police. Surry Hills command for example. Some weeks ago early on a Friday night on Oxford St I was verbally abused by some queue bogan and within 5 minutes threatened by a junkie, after I declined to ‘donate’ some of my money to him. Called Surry Hills police. Things were getting scary, so I suggested a greater police presence was needed on Oxford St that evening. Their duty Sergeant Barber claimed there were “lots of police out”. As far as I could see, not a single one one out on the street. I asked in frustration “…where are they? In the f**ken nightclubs with sniffer dogs?!”. She threatened to arrest me for using the ‘f’ word. (Compare this to their wearing out the ‘f’ word in the headline story above). So what do we do?
Perhaps if we see violence, FLOOD the local command with reports to get action. Carry a mobile phone with a camera. Thieves and violent homophobes tend to be camera shy cowards, and CCTV footage is not that easy to obtain.
And importantly, be careful if you complain to the police ombudsman. Be aware that the as the police investigate themselves, and will be reading your complaint against them. It could backfire on you. A truly independant group, which has grown out of good community members damaged by the police, is CopWatch (They exist in several so called liberal western democracies). Through these community hubs and the MEDIA, incidents like those experienced by Warnecke and Harland can be shared, compared and networked with the surprising number of other good people who have had similar experiences, and ignored the police and their ombudsman. Perhaps this, with on going lobbying to your state member (and keeping them ANSWERABLE), is one path to real change towards an effective police service, with effective checks, balances and transparency. Otherwise we will slide into being a police state, unless we already are in one…
My deep sympathies and best wishes to Greg and Aaron.
It is clear that a full high-level investigation into all individuals currently based at Blacktown Police station and Blacktown Local Area Command is now required. Failure to take strong action by the NSW Police Department will cast grave doubts on the credibility of the entire policing system in this state/
As the founder of the Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial Project in 1992, I am disgusted that little has changed since we started this project. The monument was built in Green Park and completed thanx to Stevie Clayton and Lucy Ellis. Everyone sees the nice poles. But this is exactly the sort of thing this monument was meant to remind us all to beware of. Will this ever end? Law enforcement must take this more seriously or this is just going to perpetuate or get worse. How dare they make us all second class citizens! This is more urgent than gay marraige, superannuation or whatever. This is a basic human right to have equal protection against violence. Without our right to safety, we might as well have no rights at all. The outcome is similar, if not exactly the same.
I have never heard of someone being bashed in Australia who engages in incest.
Please go to a Chamber Magistrate at a local court and ask for an Interim AVO. Insist upon it. Take photos. Take a lawyer if you can. And then ask your lawyer to pursue the bad behaviour with internal affairs, and if you need money, I will help you. The bloody bastard at the Police ought to be sacked, and many like them need their head examined!