Three 20-year-old men in Melbourne have been jailed over a series of violent attacks and robberies of gay men who they lured via dating apps including Grindr and Scruff.
Abdullah Bloch, Albin Idrizi and Madhi Nowruzi we all given sentences of more than two years as Country Court Judge Simon Moglia detailed their crimes.
Warning: This report has details of violent homophobic assaults, reader discretion is advised.
The court heard that the trio were involved in two separate attacks at a Berwick park in September 2023. While Bloch was also involved in another incident that occurred later the same month.
The court heard that they beat one of their victims until he was lost consciousness, while yelling at him “f***ing fags should die and go to hell”.
The offenders filmed their attack and could be seen shouting at the victim that he would go to hell if he did not stop “f***ing around with gay guys” adding “delete Grindr, get married and have kids.”
The man was then forced to open the banking app on his phone were they transferred $8,000 out of his account across two transactions adding the descriptions “happy birthday” and “thanks for a special night”.
The victim who suffered internal bleeding and a fractured eye-socket was forced to look directly at the camera and apologise for his behaviour.
The judge dismissed their claim that they were misguided vigilantes who were trying to curb pedophilia.
“In my view your repeated and offensive comments, particularly those against homosexual men, were absolutely abhorrent,” Judge Moglia told the men.
“Your comments were aimed to denigrate and humiliate them.” the judge said.
All three men pleased guilty. Bloch was sentenced to three years and four months with a non-parole period of 22 months. Idrizi was jailed for two years and eight months, he will be able to apply for parole after 18 months.
Nowruzi was sentenced to two years and seven months and was given permission to serve his sentence in a youth detention facility.
Earlier this year Victorian police shared that 35 men had been arrested in a series of crimes targeting gay men via dating apps. Earlier this month 19-year old Christian Keryakus was sentenced to community service over a separate unrelated incident.
In Perth five teenagers were jailed over similar crimes that saw five men assaulted and robbed.
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