Shocking Homophobic/disabled attack on Dublin to Belfast train

azul

This horrific incident happened last Saturday night on the Dublin to Belfast train at 10.30pm. The victim who is my younger brother, was attacked and beaten by four thugs in their 40´s. The PSNI are taking the matter very seriously and are confident they will catch these individuals. Not alone was the victim traveling alone, he is gay and has a mental disability and is on state disability. He is a very gentle and vulnerable person and in hindsight should probably not have been travelling on his own at that hour. To think that four grown men could do this to someone like this is very disturbing. These men have to be brought to justice.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1224/1224328152804.html

http://www.u.tv/News/Homophobic-attack-on-city-commuter-train/838f0a22-3980-47bb-a190-a04abd62a9b0

FouxDaFaFa

They stole his stuff too? What utter scumbags. I hope your brother is okay, must have been terrifying.

azul

FouxDaFaFa wrote: »

They stole his stuff too? What utter scumbags. I hope your brother is okay, must have been terrifying.

He´s in total shock, I´ve heard something like this takes months to get over.

ArtyM

I sincerely hope your Brother recovers from this, and that those who were involved are identified and brought to justice.
I am upset reading this, I cant imagine how he must feel, having experienced it.

Ghandee

OP, just out of curiosity, how did they know he was gay?

Lawrence1895

That's totally sick, attacking a vulnerable person...and people, witnessing the incident and not intervening :mad:

azul

Ghandee wrote: »

OP, just out of curiosity, how did they know he was gay?

The opened his laptop when he was at the WC and found a gay forum he was looking at. Harmless content. The police have no interest in the content in his computer, it has no relevance.

MyBrokenKnees

Ghandee wrote: »

OP, just out of curiosity, how did they know he was gay?

Read the link attached it is all explained in the newspaper.

strandroad

It said in one of the articles that they could see he was on a gay dating website.

Such a horrible aggression OP, I sincerely hope your brother will recover.

My name is URL

Groups of men in their 40's acting like lawless schoolchildren.. fcuking depressing stuff. Hope they're caught soon.

Killer Wench

Occasionally, there is someone who says that a crime is a crime and that we shouldn't create a unique class for hate crimes, but what happened to your brother is the reason why we do uniquely identify hate crimes. I am sorry for your brother's pain and I hope they throw the book at the bastards.

Stereomaniac

Off with their heads. I was attacked in public before and I was terrified to go outside for weeks. Still the fear is with me.

mikemac1

Lars1916 wrote: »

people, witnessing the incident and not intervening :mad:

Four 9 stone nothing skangers is a lot different from 4 fully grown men. These were in their 40's


People didn't intervene but I don't blame them

Red About Town

Killer Wench wrote: »

Occasionally, there is someone who says that a crime is a crime and that we shouldn't create a unique class for hate crimes, but what happened to your brother is the reason why we do uniquely identify hate crimes. I am sorry for your brother's pain and I hope they throw the book at the bastards.

Unfortunately 'throwing the book' at criminals doesn't happen enough here.

LivelineDipso

They wanted to have sex with your brother. Homophobic attacks are about nothing else. Drink brings out their inner homosexual.

Killer Wench

Red About Town wrote: »

Unfortunately 'throwing the book' at criminals doesn't happen enough here.

Under which jurisdiction does the case fall? Ireland or the UK?

Gran Hermano

Sure everyone knows those Nordies are famous for their tolerance of all mankind.

Oranage2

I doubt it was a homophobic attack since they were at his stuff before they knew he was gay which suggests they were up to no good from the get go. Don't get me wrong though they are absolute scum. Hope yous get justice and your brother is alright.

Edit- maybe it was what do i know

Death and Taxes

Killer Wench wrote: »

Under which jurisdiction does the case fall? Ireland or the UK?

The UK of course!

Killer Wench

WileyCoyote wrote: »

The UK of course!

Heck if I would know. There could be special laws in place for crimes committed on trains that go across international borders.

Ghandee

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Sure everyone knows those Nordies are famous for their tolerance of all mankind.

What, all of us?

Thespoofer

I'm very sorry Azul at what happened to your brother. I know what it feels like to have a family member with ' vulnerability'.
I'm so fcuking angry after reading your brothers case, please pass on my sincere sentiments if thats possible.

Remember for every one of those fcuking scum, theres thousands of us. Mind your brother.

jenniferalan

Im very sorry that your brother op. I sincerely hope those sick individuals are sent down for what they have done

azul

Thespoofer wrote: »

I'm very sorry Azul at what happened to your brother. I know what it feels like to have a family member with ' vulnerability'.
I'm so fcuking angry after reading your brothers case, please pass on my sincere sentiments if thats possible.

Remember for every one of those fcuking scum, theres thousands of us. Mind your brother.

Thanks Thespoofer, I´ll pass on your words of support to my brother.

dd972

Funny how these ''hardmen'' pick and choose their victims, if they're so straight why are they spending their leisure time chasing gays around.

drquirky

The f:/heads who did this should be taken out and shot

Max Power

LivelineDipso wrote: »

They wanted to have sex with your brother. Homophobic attacks are about nothing else. Drink brings out their inner homosexual.

Shut up FFS.

Solair

That's an absolutely awful incident and I hope your brother recovers soon!

The Dublin-Belfast train seems to get attacked every now and again too.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0713/north.html

This kind of thing would just put you off going to the North altogether, especially on an unsupervised train that stops in really rough places.

Also, that recent homophobic incident has now gone world-wide and you can be sure that it'll cost Northern Ireland and probably the Republic (because people don't always distinguish the two as they're both just "Ireland" in a lot of heads) lots of tourism spending as gay people cancel trips, decide to locate events or business meetings in other places etc etc.

I mean, if you were booking an event and could pick say Manchester or Belfast, after hearing something like that or about the riots in the city centre, you're hardly going to think twice about picking Manchester.

My name is URL

FionnMcCool87 wrote: »

Shut up FFS.

As silly as that poster made it sound; there is actually research to suggest that those who engage in violence fueled by 'homophobia' are in fact uncomfortable with their own sexuality rather than their target's.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/homophobic-maybe-youre-gay.html?_r=0

KKkitty

Azul I really hope your brother will be ok. They saw your brother as an easy target but for witnesses to stand idly by is incomprehensible. I don't care what anyone says there would have been more than 4 other passengers on the train at that time who could have done something but didn't. Please give your brother my best wishes.

KKkitty

KKkitty wrote: »

Azul I really hope your brother will be ok. They saw your brother as an easy target but for witnesses to stand idly by is incomprehensible. I don't care what anyone says there would have been more than 4 other passengers on the train at that time who could have done something but didn't. Please give your brother my best wishes.

And what do you think people should have done when faced with a group of scumbags? I probably would have said something but would have been petrified of becoming a target myself, which is exactly what happened last time I intervened in such an incident. What would you have done, exactly? Taken on a group of men? :rolleyes:

Laneyh

Ghandee wrote: »

OP, just out of curiosity, how did they know he was gay?

It's in the article they looked at what he was looking at on his laptop. They were obviously out for badness anyway if they were looking at his stuff. He really should have packed the laptop away before going to the toilet but I suppose you assume you're travelling with semi-normal people on the train

up for anything

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Sure everyone knows those Nordies are famous for their tolerance of all mankind.

That's a nasty sweeping statement. :rolleyes:

Laneyh

Paola Crooked Oat wrote: »

And what do you think people should have done when faced with a group of scumbags? I probably would have said something but would have been petrified of becoming a target myself, which is exactly what happened last time I intervened in such an incident. What would you have done, exactly? Taken on a group of men? :rolleyes:

I think the only feasible option is to pull the emergency cord / button
I don't know about trains but I know in the case of the tube transport police will be ready at the next stop to board and investigate why the cord was pulled

It would be quite difficult to physically intervene and you'd be right to be fearful of becoming a target but if this man was beaten to a point of bleeding its quite horrendous to stand back and do nothing too.
The best you could do is shout that you've called the police maybe

3ndahalfof6

Sometimes even jif can not get rid of the horrible scum, I hope your brother can get over this in time, it must be super tough on him.

KKkitty

Paola Crooked Oat wrote: »

And what do you think people should have done when faced with a group of scumbags? I probably would have said something but would have been petrified of becoming a target myself, which is exactly what happened last time I intervened in such an incident. What would you have done, exactly? Taken on a group of men? :rolleyes:

Roll your eyes all you like but the fact of the matter is scumbags exist because everyone else lets them. If I saw someone being attacked I would do everything I could to intervene. The day of standing idly by should stop and people should stand up to these cowards and show them a thing or two.

Doc Ruby

KKkitty wrote: »

Roll your eyes all you like but the fact of the matter is scumbags exist because everyone else lets them. If I saw someone being attacked I would do everything I could to intervene. The day of standing idly by should stop and people should stand up to these cowards and show them a thing or two.

Yup, these people don't exist in a vacuum. Often they are enabled by their friends, family, and authority figures, particularly in the north. You wouldn't want to take stupid risks with your own life either, but take photos and call the police at a minimum, that's the one thing they fear.

Lawrence1895

mikemac1 wrote: »

Four 9 stone nothing skangers is a lot different from 4 fully grown men. These were in their 40's


People didn't intervene but I don't blame them

Don't know, if I was able to take on 4 guys at a time, but still, I would not mind to encourage the other passengers to help me intervening.

Those sc***** are very often in the minority, and they can be 'beaten', imo

3ndahalfof6

Lars1916 wrote: »

Don't know, if I was able to take on 4 guys at a time, but still, I would not mind to encourage the other passengers to help me intervening.

Those sc***** are very often in the minority, and they can be 'beaten', imo

Sometimes you only need to effect the ring leader, not in all case but if you can get him to second guess himself the rest follow, most times.

KKkitty

KKkitty wrote: »

Roll your eyes all you like but the fact of the matter is scumbags exist because everyone else lets them. If I saw someone being attacked I would do everything I could to intervene. The day of standing idly by should stop and people should stand up to these cowards and show them a thing or two.

The point is, why assume people 'stood idly by'? The point is, you can try to intervene all you like but a lot of the time, it doesn't do much good.

I'm rolling my eyes because of your 'if I'd been there, I'd have stopped them' attitude. My brother ended up in A&E getting his head stapled the last time he played the good Samaritan in Portadown. I ended up getting attacked. The scumbags simply carried on in each case. Truth of the matter is a lot of people these days wouldn't think twice about stabbing you or punching you to the floor, woman or not. I don't think most people are cowards, I think most people are afraid for their own lives when faced with a crowd of a scumbags who are drunk or off their t*ts.

I'm no coward, I will always act when I can, but let's be realistic.

Just Like Heaven

Sick, hope they're caught and made an example of. Should be absolutely no tolerance for homophobia or attacks on the disabled.

fewtinsoffroth

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

Sick, hope they're caught and made an example of. Should be absolutely no tolerance for homophobia or attacks on the disabled.

Or anybody, really.

efb

what utter scum. Its like you cant read "Attitude" in some quarters without being seen as a target.

My sympathies OP

Lawrence1895

Usually, they get some kick, when they see, their victim and other people around are afraid.

I know, it sounds easy in theory, but if you show them, you are not afraid of them, they don't have an 'easy victim' anymore.

greenheart

mikemac1 wrote: »

Four 9 stone nothing skangers is a lot different from 4 fully grown men. These were in their 40's


People didn't intervene but I don't blame them

I know it's hard to say until your in that situation but I think if I was there I would definetely do something, I'm a girl so it wouldn't be much but even to start screaming while trying to get him out of there, or even let them see you ringing the police.
Any sort of interference or distraction could result in a lesser beating.
But then again it could go the other way, you never know?

Op hope your brother gets over this soon.

poeticseraphim

greenheart wrote: »

I know it's hard to say until your in that situation but I think if I was there I would definetely do something, I'm a girl so it wouldn't be much but even to start screaming while trying to get him out of there, or even let them see you ringing the police.
Any sort of interference or distraction could result in a lesser beating.
But then again it could go the other way, you never know?

Op hope your brother gets over this soon.

Yeah i would start screaming or call the police i am female too.

Sorry OP i hope your poor brother i hope he recovers.

We as a society need to support the gay and disabled community.

We need to prevent all attacks but gay people should not feel targeted.

HORRIBLE!

Actually is there an Emergency stop button?? Or cold they have informed the driver??? Or called the police who cold stop the train??


There was surely something that could have been done? Some people are not physically big enough maybe to physically intervene but they can always help in other ways.

I am a female with a thin build....I would not just mind my own business even f i could physically intervene. I wold want someone to help me if i was attacked even if all they cold do was scream or tell someone who could help.

Wanderer2010

Very sorry to hear about this attack OP and I hope these scumbags are caught and most importantly jailed for such a cowardly attack.

As for the point of people not doing anything, its really down to personal safety in most cases and not a case of them not caring. If it was a close relative or friend you would have no problem jumping in to help but with a stranger I would be more wary because you could be facing death yourself, these people would just as easy stab/punch/shoot you if you intervened without a second thought. I know that sounds really bad but I would ring the cops or at the very least get the attention of a few more people so safety in numbers..

Scruffles

azul,
unfortunately people from vulnerable or minority groups are at higher risk whenever we go out because we look and/or behave different to the norm and it comes across as weaknesses to the predatory confrontational nature of bullies-they are pyschopathic.
its probably been posted by now but what brother experienced with fellow passengers not helping is called the bystander effect- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

woud suggest that brother/an advocate complains about the lack of protection on their services for innocent passengers,it is a major problem for people with disabilities and anything else that makes them vulnerable in the eyes of the public.

as a fellow spectrumer,hope he gets better soon and doesnt let those bstards spoil his christmas.
also hope he doesnt let them get away with it by keeping himself locked away in the house-he deserves to be part of society whereas those pyschopathic oxygen wasters dont,they need to be stuck somewhere and forgot about-their sort of mentality is never rehabilitated.

if he is interested woud recommend looking into getting a support person to accompany him on public transport so he can build up confidence again and he does not develop a fear of it-it shoudnt cost him anything.
various charities over here offer it,but have had a google and think contacting these guys may bring up an answer-
http://www.aspireireland.ie/index.htm

as another example of bystander effect;years ago prior to getting a motability car,was physicaly dragged on public transport as support staffs thought tolerance and behavior on them woud get better in time-the sensory & information overload,not being able to sit in the same seat and unpredictibility woud lead to severe challenging behavior, was badly bullied on them to directly due to being disabled [am severely autistic and intelectualy disabled]-no one ever defended even when they were howling their vicious disability slurs and threats to stab or deck head in when we got off,despite the fact had two support staffs it never put them off.

-and when used to attend special college almost every student in classes of mine who were able to access public transport had been bullied on it,the drivers do not give a sht because they live in fear of being injured.

azul

Firstly, thanks for all the support and advice, I didn´t expect otherwise. Just to say that my brother holds no resentment towards the other passengers who stood by while this happened, I don´t think it´s even entered his head that they could have. Everyone has their own personal reasons for not doing anything in a situation like this and it´s their business at the end of the day but I will say however that I believe they have a duty to come forward and give evidence if they witnessed the incident as it´s important to our society that people who carry out crimes like this be brought to justice.

To answer one of the posters questions above asking why my brother left his laptop unattended while he went to the WC, which probably is the reason why this incident happened, this is typical of his behaviour caused by his disability. He has dyspraxia, not aspergers as one of the press articles states, and is very absent minded and naive. Anyone in their right mind would not leave an unattended laptop on a public train, particularily on a train heading to Belfast at 10.30pm on a Saturday night. You could say he´s at fault to some degree but the age of these guys certainly won´t help their case.

greenheart

^ No it's definitely not his fault, maybe he shouldn't have left his laptop there but that doesn't mean he should be left with a broken nose and whatever else happened.

KKkitty

KKkitty wrote: »

Azul I really hope your brother will be ok. They saw your brother as an easy target but for witnesses to stand idly by is incomprehensible. I don't care what anyone says there would have been more than 4 other passengers on the train at that time who could have done something but didn't. Please give your brother my best wishes.

If caught these pr1cks will get a taste of their own medicine in jail.