Three young New Zealanders who lured men on dating app Grindr before assaulting them have avoided jail time for their offences.
Thomas Bull, Ethan Jeffs and Patrick Moloney were all aged between 18 and 19 years of age when the assaults took place.
The trio were reportedly inspired by US TV series To Catch A Predator and set about creating their own vigilante group that posted videos to social media.
They created fake profiles on dating app Grindr to lure gay men to meetings, where they would video them being assaulted. The videos were later edited together, often with music and titles, and then posted to social media. Thirteen seperate assaults occurred between August and September of 2024.
The court in Tauranga heard that the case was similar other groups found in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Australia has also seen a spate of similar attacks, leading to Western Australian police to issue a warning about vigilante behaviour earlier this year.
The trios cases have been heard in recent months by separate judges. Details of the judges comments were published by The New Zealand Herald.
The judge sentencing Bull said his actions were “disturbing” and the offence should be seen as a Hate crime, while the judge who heard Moloney’s case said the assaults were cowardly, and the judge listening to Jeff’s case said he had clearly targeted gay men.
Bull was sentenced to eight and a half months’ home detention, Moloney was sentenced to nine months’ home detention, and Jeffs was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention.
