Last week I posted about a mother-son pair, Violet and Ricky Holland, who were on trial for headbutting and assaulting their lesbian neighbors while shouting slurs. The court has spoken:
“Ricky Holland (21) was found guilty of assault by Lincoln magistrates after yelling homophobic abuse at neighbour Jennifer Warne (28) before headbutting her in the face. The attack left Miss Warne with a black eye and bruising to her face. It happened in the early hours of New Year’s Day near her home on Lincoln Road in Brant Broughton, near Lincoln. A three-day trial at the court heard how Holland had repeatedly called Miss Warne and her partner Marie Neasham (34) ‘dykes’ after they returned from a local pub. Magistrates sentenced Holland to a curfew order which will force him to remain indoors between 7pm and 7am for the next five months…Holland had maintained that the clash of heads was accidental, but magistrates dismissed this version of events. Before Holland was sentenced, his mother Violet Holland was acquitted of an assault charge against Miss Neasham. During the trial, the court heard that the confrontation with Holland was one of a string of occasions when the couple were subjected to homophobic abuse by locals.”
Said Jonathan Finney, a spokesman for gay rights group Stonewall: “We welcome the fact the police and courts have taken this homophobic hate incident seriously. Our ongoing work around homophobic hate crime has shown that this is an issue that often affects people on their own doorsteps.”
Previously
Mother-Son Pair Appear in British Court Over Anti-Gay Assault [tr]
