Gay rights activist Joel Simpson attacked at club, beaten by six men at Bourda market

An alleged homophobic attack has left the Managing Director of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Joel Simpson nursing injuries to his abdomen and arms after he was attacked and beaten by six men at the Bourda Market at around 4am Sunday.

Prior to the savage beating, Simpson and his friends were bullied by the same men at a night club on Main Street, Georgetown where the men threw beers at them.

Simpson told the News Room Sunday morning in a telephone interview that the beating took place while he was ordering his meal at a food shop in Bourda Market.

“While I was ordering, the whole gang of them attacked me and beat me up. The sellers had to intervene. I am bruised and my sides/ribs are hurting,” Simpson detailed on his Facebook page.

He told the News Room that the men pushed him to the ground and he covered his head while they kicked him.

Simpson said a City Constable attempted to intervene but the perpetrators slapped him [city constable].

A male from the food shop managed to drag Simpson behind the shop and the men escaped in two white cars.

Simpson then left to make a report to the Brickdam Police Station but the ranks there did not take his report and sent him to the Alberttown Police Station instead.

By the time Simpson got to the Alberttown Police Station, the City Constable had already lodged a report and the Police are investigating.

Simpson told the News Room that while at the night club on Main Street he asked to speak to the Supervisor in charge after he realized that the beer being thrown on him and his friends was deliberate.

“I went to the bar and asked who was the supervisor on duty. I was directed to a man who wasn’t wearing any uniform or badge to identify him as staff. I reported to him what happened and his response was: we don’t want man wining pun man here.”

Simpson and his friend left the club and went to another bar on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD)

It is after Simpson left the bar on the ECD that he was attacked at the Bourda Market.

The gay rights activitst sought medical attention and received three injections for his pain along with tablets.

Simpson told the News Room that in his 16 years at SASOD, he has never experienced a homophobic attack of this nature.

He said he has never seen or interacted with the perpetrators before this incident.