Teen Criminals Using Hook-Up Apps for Assault and Extortion: A Disturbing Trend
Police across various states and territories are currently investigating a concerning rise in homophobic assaults involving teenagers who are utilizing hook-up apps to lure their victims. These perpetrators proceed to physically assault their victims, record the attacks, and then share them on social media platforms, a criminal trend known as “posting and boasting.”
Additionally, there has been a surge in street attacks where LGBTIQ+ individuals have been targeted and assaulted by teenage offenders. One such incident occurred in Melbourne, where a 47-year-old man, Frank Bonnici, suffered a machete attack, leaving him severely injured and facing a long road to recovery.
Bonnici, who has been unable to work since the attack, expressed his distress over the incident, highlighting the physical, emotional, and financial toll it has taken on him.
“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 recounted.
Frank Bonnici faces weeks of rehabilitation after being slashed in the arm with a machete. Source: SBS News / Greg Dyett
Bonnici’s future remains uncertain as he grapples with the aftermath of the brutal attack.
Fears of Escalating Violence in Homophobic Attacks
Recent data indicates a rise in violent homophobic attacks across Australia, predominantly orchestrated by groups of teenage offenders leveraging hook-up apps like Grindr and Scruff to target their victims.
Simon Ruth, the CEO of LGBTIQ+ health organization Thorne Harbour Health, emphasized the widespread nature of these assaults, spanning multiple regions including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland, and Canberra.
Ruth underscored the concerning escalation of these attacks, with a shift towards more violent and aggressive behavior by the perpetrators.
Thorne Harbour Health CEO Simon Ruth is calling for a nationally coordinated response to the assaults. Source: SBS News
Jeremy Oliver, a member of Victoria Police’s specialized unit for LGBTIQ+ individuals, reported a significant number of attacks in Victoria, with several arrests of teenage offenders involved in violent assaults using weapons like knives and machetes.
Oliver highlighted the disturbing trend of extortion during these attacks, where victims are coerced into transferring money and subjected to armed robberies and theft.
The rise in anti-LGBTIQ+ sentiments, toxic masculinity among young men, and the phenomenon of ‘post and boast’ on social media platforms have been identified as contributing factors to these crimes.
“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
Advocates, including Simon Ruth and Anna Brown from Equality Australia, are calling for a coordinated national response to address these heinous crimes and protect vulnerable communities.
Brown likened these attacks to a form of domestic terrorism, urging governments to treat them with the same gravity as other extremist ideologies that incite violence.
As victims like Frank Bonnici struggle to recover physically and emotionally from these traumatic incidents, the urgency for decisive action to combat such crimes becomes increasingly apparent.
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