Gay man who was ‘battered’ in homophobic attack speaks out to find his attackers
By Josh Lee
A 25-year-old man is speaking out after a homophobic attack left him with a broken ankle last month.
Anthony Griffiths was celebrating Halloween in the early hours of October 29 in Club Revolution, Oldham, when he claims he was subjected to homophobic abuse, before being assaulted. The attacker, who was dressed as Super Mario, stamped in Anthony’s leg, resulting in a broken ankle.
Anthony recounted the attack to Manchester Evening News, in the hopes that revealing the details of his attack will help bring the perpetrator to justice.
“I was sat on the wall outside having a cigarette when the guy came charging at me,” Anthony explained. “He literally ran at me, stamped on my foot and ran off in the other direction.
“We’d seen him earlier in the night and he‘d been fine with us. I don’t why he changed like that.
According to Anthony, the unnamed attacker became angered after Anthony asked him to stop harassing his friend.
“I asked him to stop. I explained to him that she had a boyfriend and wasn’t interested,” he said.
“That’s when he turned to me and said ‘what’s it got to do with you, you gay ****. I have no idea why he came after me again later on.
“When he stamped on my foot I heard a crack so I knew it was bad.”
As well as a broken ankle and damaged ligaments in his foot, Anthony has been left too frightened to go out at night since.
He said that by speaking he out he hopes “it might encourage people who saw the attack to come forward to find out who did it.”
The incident took place on Saturday 29th October.
A spokesman for GMP confirmed the incident had been reported to the police.