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Youth in Court Charged with Homophobic Abuse of Three Gay Men

GLOUCESTER, June 10, 2009  –  A thirteen year old youth from the small West Country town of Dursley pleaded not guilty at Gloucester Magistrates Youth Court today to charges, including homophobic harassment of three gay men last February.

One of the three men who were allegedly harassed because of their sexuality was Algerian Imad Belkhadrig who in November 2005 was the subject of international media attention when he sought to stay in the country and initially had his asylum application rejected by the Home Office.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reason, is also accused of throwing stones and coins at the windows of the men's homes, witness intimidation and perverting the course of justice and a single charge of assault.

The trial is expected to last three days as more than 10 juvenile witnesses are expected to give evidence.

Today, the court heard of a pattern of alleged homophobic abuse from school children – especially on three dates in February – towards Mr. Belkhadrig, his partner Howard Jeans-Seymour and Mark Fern.

The court heard how, on Monday February 2, two of the men were at home when they heard a crashing noise against the windows.  One of them went outside and saw five youths who had been throwing snowballs containing stones at the property.

Four youths ran off, while the one remaining teen allegedly called him a homophobic term before eventually running away.

Three days later a second incident took place.  One of the men heards voices outside the house shouting "come out you cowards" as more snowballs were thrown at the house.

The court was told there were two furtherb similar incidents.

According to prosecutor Jonathan Heard, all three men identified the defendant as the youth shouting the homophobic abuse.

But John Dyer for the defence cast doubt on the validity of the identification, pointing out that three of the four incidents took place in the dark.

All three witnesses spoke of their distress at the incidents.  "It made me feel as though [the youths] thought I had no rights," Mr. Belkhadrig told the court.

The case continues. 

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