Cleared gay man to take sction against PSNI

international | crime and justice | news report Friday October 15, 2004 19:47 by Kit kitdimitri at hotmail dot com

Gay man assaulted by officer accuses PSNI of homophobia

A gay man assaulted by a police officer was stitched up for assault charges up by the assaulting officer and his colleague to cover up their wrong doing has been cleared on Wednesday October 13th at Laganside Courts, Belfast.

Thanks to CCTV Jeff Hoskin has been cleared of assault on the officer. However, the footage did expose the officers' lies when it showed scenes where the male officer assaulted Mr Hoskin, who was minutes before already a victim of a homophobic attack.

Mr Hoskin, 27, has prepared a detailed dossier of potentially damaging allegations and is also to again call in Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan whose investigators dismissed the complaints against the police during the summer.

A gay man cleared of assaulting a police officer in Belfast today threatened to sue the force over alleged homophobia in the ranks.

Jeff Hoskin, 27, believes he was wrongly victimised and has prepared a detailed dossier of potentially damaging allegations.

The trainee hairdresser, arrested and accused after being battered by a hate mob outside a nightclub, is also to again call in Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.

Nearly five months after being charged, the case against him collapsed in court this week when CCTV footage failed to show any menacing behaviour toward the officer.

CCTV footage actually showed the officer aggressively assaulting Mr Hoskin. Mr Hoskin unsurprisingly faced fierce resistance before getting to see the film.

Although the Police Service of Northern Ireland has apparantly begun a new offensive on attacks on the gay community, he was withering in his assessment of how officers handled him.

Warning of imminent legal action, he said: ``I was falsely accused of calling them (the assailants) scumbags and saying they should all be bombed.

``I'm going after the police for assault, false arrest, six months of distress and defamation of character.

``All the senior figures had to do was look at this tape and this would have been dropped straight away because it shows I did not push him.''

Mr Hoskin was jumped, along with his friend, advertising executive Mr Kristian Markus, by a 10-strong gang in May after being taunted with homophobic abuse as they left a city centre club.

Police were flagged down soon after the attack, but the situation worsened when Mr Hoskin, who is now proved innocent, was bizarrely arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer.

``I was shocked and surprised it got to this stage because the initiall attack itself was bad enough without being assaulted by a
police officer.'' said Mr Hoskin

At the time Assistant Chief Constable Judith Gillespie had just pledged a crackdown on anti-gay crime which has reached worrying
levels, particularly in Londonderry.

She met Mr Markus, 26, later that summer to discuss how the two men had been treated, but they remain aggrieved, saying it was not
followed up. Mr Markus confirms Mrs Gillespie said that there is an internal problem with homophobia also.

Attempts to capture the mob who beat them up has also been depressingly slow, they said.

An identification parade has been set up for next month, only due to pressure from Mr Markus, but Mr Hoskin claimed it could be too late by then.

``It will be six months and these people could have had hair cuts or anything, or to remember a face after six months?'' he said.

''This is just not acceptable but we now have recourse with the Police Ombudsman who had dismissed our claims earlier in the year. They are now under media scrutiny and must be seen to do their job and stop passing the buck. They must fulfill their duty this time without a bias towards the PSNI.'' said Mr Markus

Mr Hoskin said ``The way this was dealt with was very insensitive and it shows they (the police) need a lot more training on homophobic crime.''

Mr Markus continues 'It's not just about much training. The PSNI are failing at the very start when recruiting known bigots, and little cosideration is given to how these people will treat the gay community or people of ethnic minorities. At that stage it about getting the recruit numbers right on a 50/50 religious background ratio. It's not about how competent these people are on the ground. Whatever happened to getting the right man for the job? Few and far between it would seem''

The PSNI stressed it was continuing to work with minority groups.

A spokeswoman said: ``The case referred to has passed through the judicial process and has been dealt with.

``As a result of an offer made by ACC Gillespie, a meeting did take place at which the ACC discussed ways of improving the service to all victims of hate crimes, including those victims of homophobic attacks.

``The PSNI are consistently liaising with all the relevant groups and communities to seek to improve these services.

``However, if anyone has a complaint about an officer or a complaints about the manner in which their case has been dealt with they are encouraged to contact the Police Ombudsman.''

However, despite urges from Mr Markus for intervention, Mrs Gillespie did refuse to help and put a stop to this unjust charge against a victim the PSNI are paid to protect.

Police have yet to comment on what disiplinary action will be taken against this officer for assaulting a victim and also against his colleague who gave false evidence in her statement, which did not stand up in court, to protect her colleague.

As far as my sources tell me, the few officers that actually work in the hate crime unit are apparantly unhappy and looking to get out due to being overworked and unsurprisingly under resourced.