Lesbian couple called ‘fat dykes’ before homophobic attack
(Getty)
A married lesbian couple were called “fat dykes” by a man who assaulted them in Croydon, London, earlier this year.
31-year-old Sazi Tutani said that he was drunk and on cocaine on the night in question and did not remember the alleged assault.
Alessandra Field and her wife Rebecca were sitting with another gay couple, Maria Mulligan and Michelle Johnson, in Croydon after a night out on August 7.
South African Tutani, who the group did not know, approached them and told Michelle and Maria to kiss.
“[Tutani] was quite inebriated and he was very derogatory in speaking to Michelle and Maria,” Alessandra told Croydon Magistrates’ Court.
“He asked them to kiss, they were just holding hands and I think it was a very perverted way of trying to get some sort of excitement out of seeing them two kiss.”
After the women refused to kiss, Tutani stayed near them and told some friends he was “with some lesbians,” before following them down the street.
“He was following behind us, probably about half a metre. He was trying to get Michelle and Maria’s attention by continuing to talk to them,” Alessandra told the court.
A friend of Tutani’s then appeared, and began to grope her breasts.
“He was circling around me and brushing past me and touching my breasts, to which I said no and then he continued to grope my breasts.
“Quite obviously my wife Rebecca said no and put herself between me and him.”
Alessandra then pushed the man away, which prompted a violent response.
“They called us fat dykes then the man in the blue T-shirt [Tutani] punched me in the face,” she said.
“Rebecca was quite quick to move me out of the way and then she got an open hand slap around her face for getting involved.”
Tutani and the other man were both arrested by police that night, but Tutani failed to appear in court for the trial.
He had been granted bail earlier in the year and returned to Johannesburg, and claimed he had been able to secure a visa in time for the trial.
Despite his absence, the court went ahead and found him guilty of one charge of assault by beating. A warrant for his arrest has been issued to bring him to the country for sentencing.
Last month we reported on a worrying new trend of bigots sharing videos of homophobic attacks online, posted under titles like ‘tranny fight’.
Recent weeks have also seen violent attacks on a New Zealand bartender branded a “pink shirt wearing homo,” and a socialite dubbed Britain’s vainest man who was assaulted in a Manchester gay bar.
