A group of transgender women was filmed violently stomping, kicking, and punching a young man for making an offensive comment. However, instead of jail time for the vicious assault, the culprits received only community service.
Any time a member of the LGBT community is insulted or assaulted, the media are quick to report the details of the event as well as denounce the intolerance and violence. However, it’s often overlooked when the brutality occurs the other way around, which was the case for Tamzin Lush, Tylah-Jo Bryan, and Amarnih Lewis-Daniel. Unfortunately, this double standard does nothing to promote peace and unity on all sides.
In one such circumstance, the group of transgender women has admitted they “overreacted” after they were captured on camera relentlessly beating a young man over an alleged offensive comment he made. The three culprits have confessed to the brutal assault, but they insist that they are not entirely to blame for their outrageous response.
Tamzin Lush, Tylah-Jo Bryan, and Amarnih Lewis-Daniel were caught on video attacking a 19-year-old identified only as Al-Shaheeb at Leicester Square as a crowd of rowdy bystanders watched and laughed, Court News UK reports. The trio was joined by mother-of-four Hannah Bryan, who is not transgender and is the sister of Bryan, as the teen collapsed to the ground and eventually fell incapacitated.
“He was 19 years old and described as Arabian,” Jacinta Stringer, prosecuting, said. “The young man came across these defendants outside Leicester Square Tube station. Hannah Bryan, when she was interviewed described that there had been a conversation with this young man where he had turned around and said ‘You’re not a woman – you need a [expletive] to be a woman.’ That, of course, started an altercation.”
It was then that Lush “drop-kicked” Al-Shaheeb, prompting the others to stomp and kick him while he was on the ground. Hannah Bryan initially attempted to intervene but soon joined in the attack, kicking the man as well. Al-Shaheeb was eventually taken to the hospital but refused to cooperate with the police. He was left with minor injuries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHzHqCJ8YXk
Judge Nigel Seed claimed he didn’t wish to condone the group’s behavior, but he seemed to contradict his claim by stating that the attack wouldn’t have happened if the victim wouldn’t have insulted his attackers in the first place.
Judge Nigel Seed said, “I accept that had it not been for the alleged victim in this case there probably wouldn’t have been an incident. The four of you then were subjected to extremely offensive transphobic and racial abuse and let it be known how this started, whatever the gutter newspapers would have said in their reports. Had it not been for that there would have been no violent disorder. However that does not excuse what you did, you went far to far in your reactions, but of course transphobic issues are particularly sensitive.”
Both Lush and Bryan admitted they “overreacted” but added that hearing about hate crimes against transgender women has made them “automatically more defensive.” They also said they regret responding violently but also blamed the victim for verbally abusing them.
Ultimately, Lush and Bryan were given 12-month community service orders along with a 6-month curfew. Lewis-Daniel, who has remained quiet since the attack, was given 20 days of rehab on top of the aforementioned sentence. Hannah Bryan was given a 2-year conditional discharge.
There’s no telling whether the sentences would be any harsher if the victim had chosen to cooperate with the police. However, it’s clear that the judge sympathized with the attackers and opted for leniency. Disturbingly, this only sends a message that hurtful and hateful words can justifiably be met with physical violence.
