Police in multiple states and territories are investigating a marked increase in homophobic assaults where teenagers use hookup apps to lure their victims before bashing them and filming the assaults which are then uploaded to social media sites.
It’s a criminal trend that has been labelled “posting and boasting”.
There has also been an increase in street attacks where teenage offenders have assaulted LGBTIQ+ victims.
Melbourne man Frank Bonnici, 47, is off work and faces weeks of rehabilitation after being slashed with a machete after he and his partner were confronted by four teenagers who yelled homophobic slurs.
The attack took place in Preston in Melbourne’s north-east on 30 November when he and his partner, Mykey O’Halloron, were out walking.
“When I saw my arm bleeding, I’m like ‘f—k, I’m bleeding out’, and then I just started yelling call triple-zero, call the ambulance, call triple-zero,” he told SBS News.
Frank Bonnici faces weeks of rehabilitation after being slashed in the arm with a machete. Source: SBS News / Greg Dyett
Bonnici has not been able to work since and says a surgeon warned him he might not regain full use of his arm.
“All my work has completely stopped. I do social work, I teach yoga, I do modelling as well. All my work is physical. So, I’ve got absolutely zero income at the moment coming in,” he said.
Fears attacks are becoming more violent
Australia is experiencing an increase in homophobic attacks, largely carried out by groups of teenage offenders who lure their victims via hookup apps like Grindr and Scruff.
The chief executive of LGBTIQ+ health organisation Thorne Harbour Health, Simon Ruth, said the assaults have taken place in multiple jurisdictions.
“We’re seeing it right across the country. So it’s been Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland and Canberra,” Ruth said.
“But it now seems to be escalating as well. So we’ve had a base level of attacks occurring on apps, particularly Grindr and also Snapchat.
“But now it seems to be escalating to more violent attacks.”
Thorne Harbour Health CEO Simon Ruth is calling for a nationally coordinated response to the assaults. Source: SBS News
Jeremy Oliver works for the Victoria Police in a specialist unit for LGBTIQ+ Victorians.
He said there have been several dozen attacks in Victoria since June and more than 15 arrests of teenage offenders who have allegedly carried out assaults with knives, machetes and bats.
“We’ve seen a lot of weapons produced at these incidents, and the crimes that have been committed are usually an assault or an assault with a weapon,” Oliver said.
“There’s also extortion. So, at the scene, the offenders will ask the victim to open up their bank account and transfer money to another account, and also armed robberies and theft.”
Oliver said after conversations with community organisations and government agencies, the police believe there are a number of factors giving rise to this offending, including a global decline in social cohesion and a rise in anti-LGBTIQ+ hate and discrimination.
“We also know that there’s a rising level of toxic masculinity within, particularly young men, and there’s this phenomenon which has been labelled ‘post and boast’ where people commit any type of crime and post it onto socials — whether it be TikTok or Snapchat — as a way of boasting about what they’ve done and trying to gain some type of influence or notoriety for standing within their particular networks or communities.”
Jeremy Oliver from the Victoria Police said there have been more than three dozen attacks in Victoria this year with 15 teenagers arrested. Source: Supplied
Ruth said there needs to be a nationally coordinated response to these crimes.
“We also need a national detection service, that we need to be tracking this,” he said.
“It does seem to be driven nationally. It seems to be driven online.
“State jurisdictional police forces have a role in detecting and arresting but somebody needs to be tracking the fact that this seems coordinated across the country.”
The view is shared by Anna Brown, chief executive of LGBTIQ+ organisation Equality Australia.
“This is a form of, you could say, domestic terrorism,” she said.
Brown said governments need to treat these attacks with the same seriousness as they do “other forms of extreme ideologies that lead to violence and attacks”.
While grateful he wasn’t killed in the machete attack, Bonnici said he wonders what is in store for the weeks and months ahead.
“How long is that going to go on?
“The stupid dreams that I have. I’m not sleeping at night, and I’m in a lot of pain, and I just have to keep taking painkillers every day.”
