Lesbian couple beaten by group of men after birthday night out
Pictures of the injuries that Emma MacLean sustained following the alleged assault. (Facebook/Emma MacLean)
Shocking video footage has emerged showing the moment a lesbian couple were beaten by a group of men while walking home from a night-time birthday celebration.
Canadians Emma MacLean and her girlfriend, Tori, were reportedly walking home when they were confronted by a group of 10 men, one of whom had made a “sexually degrading” comment towards them.
“A group of men walking on the other direction made a comment to me,” Emma MacLean told CTVNews. “My girlfriend, Tori, said: ‘Hey that’s my girlfriend’.
“They continued walking and Tori followed them to basically say: ‘That is not OK’.”
Things escalated quickly, with MacLean claiming Tori was pushed against concrete steps and beaten.
“The fight-or-flight came in. I jumped on one of their backs and put them in a chokehold, trying to restrain them.”
The couple, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, were then punched and kicked several times in the face and ribs, leaving them with a number of injuries.
Brief footage of the incident appears to show MacLean and Tori on the ground being attacked. A witness alerted police but they arrived after the men had left.
MacLean said an officer told her than one of those involved in the altercation had claimed she’d attacked them. An investigation is ongoing, but no charges have been filed at the time of reporting.
“I felt punches and kicks, then I felt it on my nose and there was blood,” MacLean continued. “I just thought this needs to stop now. I went to [hospital] and they basically said it was too swollen for surgery.
“We are extremely thankful that things were not worse [but] I’m terrified to go downtown again in Halifax. I just feel it’s so out of your control, what could happen. It’s overwhelming.
“I didn’t expect something like this to happen, especially with it happening during Pride month.”
MacLean urged anyone with information to come forward after sharing footage of the attack on social media.
