Perth youths plead guilty to gay bashing men they baited on Grindr

Two Perth men have plead guilty to a spate of horrific assaults carried out in January on men they lured to public places through Grindr, leaving one victim with bleeding on the brain.

James Joseph Katchan, 20, plead guilty to all five assaults while another man, 19 year old Cody Parkinson, admitted that he took part in the fifth assault, PerthNow has reported.

In that instance, Parkinson’s image was used to lure a 57 year old man to a park where he was attacked by four men who brutally punched, kicked and stomped his body.

While Parkinson waited out in the open, Katchan and the other two men waiting in the bushes before confronting him, saying they were “a group who guard the area from faggots and paedophiles”.

The other two participants have also been charged over the assault.

Katchan’s first attack took place on January 21 when he lured a 35 year old man to a park in Kenwick with the promise of sex.

The man was subjected to homophobic slurs when he arrived and then punched repeatedly, all while the bashing was filmed on Katchan’s phone.

The victim suffered black eyes, a fractured eye socket and cuts, according to State prosecutor Hannah Milligan.

Two days later, Katchan hit a 33 year old man over the head with a baseball bat embedded with metal rings at a park in Canning Vale. The bat was later found at Katchan’s house by police.

The next bashing victim was set upon at a sports oval in the same suburb where he was kicked and punched before locking himself in his car to get away.

And on January 31, a 29 year old man was attacked and had a bottle smashed over his head.

Four of the assaults took place over a 10 day period. Sentencing has been adjourned until next month with the judge labelling the bashings “very serious offences”.