Cisgender woman guilty of assaulting two transgender women in hate crime attack
A 47-year-old woman has pleaded guilty of assaulting two transgender women.
Jessica Dare, of Chester, pleaded guilty to the assaults in a Chester Magistrates Court hearing on Friday (October 19), Cheshire Live reports.
The incident took place on September 29, during a karaoke night at a Chester bar, the Oddfellows Arms.
The court heard that Dare became involved in an altercation with two transgender women after shouting: “What is that? That is a man.”
The Oddfellows Arms (Creative Commons/Rept0n1x)
According to the report, Dare was confronted by the two women for her comments, but responded with obscenities.
Dare grabbed one of the victims by the neck, and struck the second woman on the face in the ensuing scuffle.
The assaults were classed as hate crimes, due to the nature of her comments about the two transgender victims.
The mother-of-three also pleaded guilty to another assault later in the same evening against a third—cisgender victim—as the Metro reported.
A police car (Stock photo)
According to Cheshire Live, Dare told the court that she had been drinking and had no recollection of the incidents.
Her solicitor explained that after seeing CCTV of the incident, Dare described her own actions as “horrendous” and wrote letters of apology to the victims.
The court handed her a 12-month community order and a nine week curfew.
Dare was also ordered to pay £250 in compensation to the victims and a further £85 in fines.
Data released last week showed a spike in reported crimes against transgender people. There were 1,651 reports of anti-transgender hate crime in the past year, up from 1,248 in 2017. The data also showed that anti-trans hate crimes are more likely to be violent offences than for any other hate crime category.
Reports of anti-transgender hate crimes were up 32 percent year-on-year, rising faster than hate crimes motivated by race or sexual orientation. LGBT+ campaigners described the figures as “concerning” and as a “wake-up call.”
