British man James Billings appeared in a London court this week where he was convicted of an assault on gay man Piotr Kwiecien outside Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in November last year.
Billings threw a plank of wood at Kwiecien’s head and called him a “f***ing queer” during the attack. Initially police said they were unable to identify who Billings was, but after Kwiecien’s boyfriend shared images of the incident, and an investigation by journalists at website My London, he was tracked down.
In court Billings claimed he’d reacted in the violent manner because he was being “stalked by homosexuals”, telling the magistrates that gay men at his gym has a “crazy obsessions” with him.
Billings was convicted of assault by beating and using threatening words and behaviour after a trial at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.
Billings had been charged with police over several incidents that occurred around the same time. One of those cases has now been dropped, but he will return to court for a separate incident that occurred in March this year.
Kwiecien and his supporters have welcomed the conviction, but questioned why police were unable to track down the offender, and then were unable to provide key pieces of evidence once the case went to trial.
Police were unable to supply the recording of the emergency call related to the incident and photos of the injuries Kwiecien sustained. Police also forgot to retain the CCTV footage of the incident and had to rely on a copy of the footage captured by an officer body worn camera. The loss of the photographs meant prosecutors were unable to establish the more serious charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Billings lawyers claimed that their client was the victim and had actually been attacked by Kwiecien. The magistrates disagreed with his version of events.
