LAST UPDATE | 8 Jun 2019
FIVE TEENAGERS HAVE been arrested on suspicion of robbery and aggravated grievous bodily harm in London, as part of a police probe into a homophobic attack and robbery of two women on a bus.
The incident took place on a night bus in Camden in the early hours of 30 May. Melania Geymonat and her girlfriend Chris had boarded the N31 bus at around 2.30am in West Hampstead.
As the women sat on the top deck, they were approached by a group of men who made lewd and homophobic comments to them.
They were then attacked and punched several times before the males fled the bus.
A phone and a bag were stolen during the assault.
Both of the women were treated in hospital, but they’ve now been discharged.
Geymonat told BBC’s World at One: “We must have kissed or hugged or something like that because right away they saw that we were together.
In that moment, I tried to ease the situation. I tried to make some jokes, like Chris wasn’t understanding because she didn’t speak English or stuff like that… We tried to make them go away but they didn’t. The next thing I know is that Chris is in the middle of the bus and they are punching her.
The young men – aged between 15 and 18 – were arrested yesterday and today.
Detective Superintendent Andy Cox said: “This was a disgusting attack on two women who appear to have been picked out and targeted by a group of youths.
The suspects have made a number of homophobic comments towards the couple before throwing coins at them. When the women tried to reason with the group, the attack escalated to an assault.
While saying that such attacks were “rare”, Cox said a lot of people would be “understandably outraged” by the attack.
“Our efforts to trace all the suspects involved and bring them in for questioning will be relentless,” he added.
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