By Rebecca Trigger. Topic: Crime. Four teenage boys have been accused of "hate crimes" as part of an alleged catfishing scheme using dating app Grindr to lure gay men to a location before attacking them with various weapons including crowbars.
Two boys, aged 15 and 16, appeared in court on Thursday and were remanded in custody until their next court appearances. Late on Thursday afternoon, police revealed they had charged a further two other boys, aged 16 and 17 with a series of offences relating to the incidents.
Four teenage boys have been accused of "hate crimes" as part of an alleged catfishing scheme using a dating app to lure gay men to meet face-to-face before attacking them. Two of the boys, aged 15 and 16, appeared in a Perth court on Thursday charged over the alleged assault of two men in their 30s yesterday morning. Late on Thursday afternoon, police revealed they had charged a further two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, in relation to the incidents.
Police allege the "homophobic assaults" occurred when the boys lured two men to vacant land in the southern Perth suburb of South Lake. The prosecutor told the Perth Children's Court a group of boys used the gay dating app Grindr to "lure" victims to a location by posing as a man interested in having a sexual encounter. She told the court when the alleged victims arrived, they were confronted by a group of males armed with crowbars, machetes, pepper spray and other weapons and the alleged assault was filmed on a mobile phone.
Grindr is a popular dating app for gay men. Police said the group also threw rocks at the vehicle of an alleged victim, smashing the windscreen and side of his car as he drove away. The teenagers allegedly then stole the car of the second victim and left him with serious injuries including a "large" laceration to his arm. The prosecutor told the court recordings of the incidents were found by police on phones at the two co-accused's homes, along with clothing matching that worn by those depicted in the videos.
