Managing Director of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) Joel Simpson was attacked and beaten by six men early yesterday morning as he was waiting to purchase food at Bourda Market, hours after being harassed by the same group of men at the Palm Court nightclub.
So far, one of the alleged attackers has been identified as Maverick DeAbreu, who is on trial over the assaulting of Soca artiste, Benjai.
According to Simpson, he and five friends were hanging out during the day and three of them ended up going to Palm Court around 10 pm on Saturday. He told Stabroek News that when they got there, it wasn’t crowded and he and his two friends were drinking until around midnight when the nightclub started to fill with more patrons.
“We were just sitting at the bar having tequila shots, one female and male friend… and we were dancing by the bar and then we felt beer thrown on us. It literally landed on all three of us. We looked around puzzled and shook it off and thought it was a drunken spill,” Simpson, a gay rights activist, said.
However, his initial thought of it being an accident was quickly dispelled after beer was throw on them again some two minutes later.
“We felt another spill of beer on us and I looked around and saw these group of [six] guys by the bar looking at us menacingly and mockingly and we realised it was them,” he recalled.
After he figured out who had thrown the beers at him and his friends, Simpson said he enquired at the bar and requested to speak to the supervisor or manager to make a complaint. He said that he was pointed to a man who was not in uniform.
Upon further enquiries, he learnt that the man was the head of security, and he approached him and related what had happened.
“His response was ‘we don’t want man wining on man in here’… After he said that, I said ‘you don’t understand but I am reporting that someone assaulted me with beer and the issue at hand is the assault’ and he repeated the statement again. I was shocked and perplexed and so I went back to my friends and told them what happened,” Simpson related. He added that by this point, two other female friends had joined their group.
After the second incident, Simpson said that he and his friends were discussing whether they should stay at the nightclub or leave, but decided to wait until they had finished their drinks.
“When the beer was throw on us for the second time, the girls that we ran into there started responding to the guys and questioning why they were doing it and I had to restrain them from approaching the guys and that is when one of the girls took a short video of one of the guys, and when she was videoing, he tried to hit the phone out of her hand,” Simpson recalled.
Around 1:30 am, he said, he and his male friend decided to leave and went to the Strip at the Giftland Mall in Turkeyen and stayed there until 4 am. After parting ways with his friend, he decided to pick up breakfast from his regular spot in Bourda Market called ‘Aunty’ before heading home.
When Simpson arrived at Bourda Market, the same group of six men, who were harassing him and his friends at Palm Court, were at the snackette.
“The guys were there and I was waiting on my turn to order and one of them say ‘ey that’s the guy from PC who disrespect we’. I didn’t pay any mind and Aunty started asking me what I am getting. I started making my order and while ordering, I just felt being cuffed and kicked and I hit the ground,” Simpson recalled.
He fell a couple of feet away from the snackette and the group of men started to kick him about his body. Instinctively, he said, he covered his head and endured the attack before the snackette owner’s son, Dave, tried to intervene and rescue him. A City Constabulary officer, who was on the scene, also tried to intervene but was slapped by one of the men.
Subsequently, a verbal altercation ensued between the men and other persons around as Dave and the City Constabulary officer pulled him away before the six men left in two white cars.
After they drove off, Simpson said he called one of his friends and was taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit at the Georgetown Public Hospital where his injuries were tended to. He was given three injections and painkillers. An x-ray showed that there was no internal bleeding, and according to him, at this moment, he just has a lot of bruises about his body, soreness in places where he was kicked as well as pain when he takes deep breaths.
“I think if the officer didn’t intervene and Dave, it could’ve been much worse because they just kept kicking at me. After the hospital, I went to the Brickdam Police Station and they directed me to Alberttown and by the time I got there, I was told that the report was already made by the City Constabulary officer. I gave my statement and they said they were going to make contact with Palm Court management to see if the perpetrators can be identified,” Simpson said.
When he got home, Simpson said he realised that one of his friends had made a short video of one of the alleged attackers in Palm Court and after circulating the video among his social circles, the man was identified as De Abreu.
“At this point, I am outraged at Palm Court because if he [De Abreu] has a matter like what he has before the courts, how is he still allowed to be going there? If it was me as an ordinary man spilling beer purposely on someone, I would’ve been banned and this guy (allegedly) assaulted a Soca artiste and is not even banned,” Simpson said.
Stabroek News visited Palm Court yesterday afternoon and requested to speak to the supervisor. However, another man, who identified himself as Sanjiv, related that the man who was on duty when the incident occurred would not be back at work until Tuesday.
He also said that they do not discriminate against persons on the basis of sexual orientation, and when asked to view CCTV footage, he said that he had to wait until the technician was on the premises and could not say anything further since he was not there.
Owner of the nightclub, Manniram Prashad could not be reached for a comment.
The police are continuing their investigations.
