The police are yet to make an arrest following the attack last week on Managing Director of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) Joel Simpson, who was beaten by a group of six men at Bourda Market.
Contacted for an update yesterday, Commander of ‘A’ Division Marlon Chapman told Stabroek News that the investigation was continuing and that no arrest had yet been made.
Chapman said the police were pursuing an individual in connection with the matter.
The individual is suspected to be Maverick DeAbreu, who is on trial over the alleged assault of Soca artist Benjai. He has been identified as one of the assailants.
Simpson had previously explained to Stabroek News that he and his friends were previously accosted by the men at the Palm Court nightclub on the night of June 15th.
“We were just sitting at the bar having tequila shots, one female and male friend… and we were dancing by the bar and then we felt beer thrown on us. It literally landed on all three of us. We looked around puzzled and shook it off and thought it was a drunken spill,” Simpson, a gay rights activist, had said.
His first thought of it being an accident was quickly dispelled after beer was thrown on them again some two minutes later. “We felt another spill of beer on us and I looked around and saw this group of [six] guys by the bar looking at us menacingly and mockingly and we realised it was them,” he recalled.
After he figured out who had thrown the beers at them, Simpson said he requested to speak to the supervisor or manager to make a complaint. He said that he was pointed to a man who was not in uniform.
Upon further enquiries being made, he learnt that the man was the head of security, and he approached him and related what had happened.
“His response was, ‘We don’t want man wining on man in here’… After he said that, I said ‘You don’t understand but I am reporting that someone assaulted me with beer and the issue at hand is the assault.’ And he repeated the statement again. I was shocked and perplexed and so I went back to my friends and told them what happened,” Simpson related.
He added that by this point, two female friends had joined their group.
After the second incident, Simpson said that he and his friends were discussing whether they should stay at the nightclub or leave. They decided to wait until they had finished their drinks.
Around 1.30 am, he said he and his male friend decided to leave and went to the Strip at the Giftland Mall at Turkeyen and they stayed there until 4 am.
After the two parted ways, Simpson decided to pick up breakfast from a regular spot in Bourda Market before heading home.
When Simpson arrived at Bourda Market, the same group of six men who were harassing him and his friends at Palm Court were at the snackette. “The guys were there and I was waiting on my turn to order and one of them say, ‘Aye, that’s the guy from PC who disrespect we.’ I didn’t pay any mind and Aunty started asking me what I am getting. I started making my order and while ordering, I just felt being cuffed and kicked and I hit the ground,” Simpson recalled.
He fell a couple of feet away from the snackette and the group of men started to kick him about his body. Instinctively, he said, he covered his head and endured the attack before the snackette owner’s son, Dave, tried to intervene and rescue him. A City Constabulary officer who was on the scene also tried to intervene but was slapped by one of the men.
Subsequently, a verbal altercation ensued between the men and other persons around, as Dave and the City Police pulled him away before the six men left in two white cars.
Simpson, in an interview with Stabroek News had described the attack on him as a hate crime. “There is no doubt in my mind that this was a hate crime,” he had stated.
As a result, he had called for hate crime legislation while noting that much more needs to be done to protect members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, who have been already or may be subject to similar experiences in the future.
