Three teenage boys plead guilty to threatening same-sex couple after they refused to perform sex act
Melania Geymonat (right) and her partner Chris Hannigan were beaten on a London bus for refusing to kiss and perform sex acts. (Facebook)
Three teenage boys have pleaded guilty to threatening a same-sex couple on a bus after they refused to perform a sexual act for them in London, England.
Earlier this year, a photograph of the couple covered in blood, their faces visibly distressed, leapt onto headlines and front-pages across the world.
Their names were Melania Geymonat and Christine Hannigan.
On a double-decker bus in the early morning of May 30, the teens asked the couple to perform a sexual act, Highbury Corner Youth Court heard according to Sky News.
There teens plead guilty to threatening same-sex couple, while fourth teen sees charges dropped.
But when they refused, the teens surrounded the couple and tossed lewd comments and chucked coins, courts heard, as well as subjecting them to sexual gestures.
A two-day trial was scheduled for Thursday, but before proceedings began, the three teens admitted their public order offences.
Prosecutor Saira Khan told the court that each of the boys – aged 15, 16 and 17 – played a different tour during the nine-minute attack.
Charges against a fourth teen aged 17 were dropped today.
The teens cannot be named for legal reasons.
Lawmakers, celebrities, activists and the public alike condemned the attack in what became a stark reminder of the surging rates of anti-LGBT+ crime in the capital.
Anti-LGBT+ hate crimes have rocketed.
The attack on the same-sex couple became the apex of a soaring spate of violence against LGBT+ citizens, shocking statics have showed.
More than 11,500 reported hate crimes in England and Wales in 2017-18. This is a 27 per cent increase on the previous year, which officials attribute to more people coming forward as victims of crime.
In London, homophobic hate crime has been on the rise since the start of the year.
There were 243 reported incidents in April 2019, the highest number since July 2018.
