An 18-year-old man from Jamacia continues to recover after a horrifying, violent attack that saw him beaten, kidnapped, and set ablaze.
Local newspaper The Gleaner reports that the victim ventured to Montego Bay under the impression he was meeting a man from a dating site for a date. When he arrived, the man from the site appeared with two other men who robbed the victim of his ATM card, wallet and cell phone. The three men then assaulted the victim, leaving him bound as they went to withdraw cash from a nearby ATM.
The three men returned shortly thereafter, unsuccessful in withdrawing the money. Then they forced him to transfer money into his account for them to withdraw. They also continued to assault the victim, cutting off part of his penis. The three men, who were also drinking at the time, doused the victim in liquor, set him on fire, and left him for dead.
“He is a very lucky young man because although they left him in a critical condition, he managed to make his way to a security checkpoint in the community where they assisted him to the hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition,” a local police officer told The Gleaner.
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At the time of this writing, police have not made the names of any potential suspects in the case public.
Related: Man arrested for beating couple, police dog in apparent hate crime
This isn’t the first attack of this kind in Jamacia, a country that still harbors harsh, anti-queer laws. The same officer quoted in the story recalled another incident in which a gay man was targeted by violent criminals via a gay dating app.
“There was a similar incident in 2020, where the now-deceased, 43-year-old Allie Jackson, who worked as a warehouse manager, went on a similar gay dating site and hooked up with an alleged single gay companion, who lured him to the retirement community,” the officer remembered. “Jackson, unlike this young man, was not so lucky, because on January 29, 2020, he left to meet his supposedly gay date during his lunch break, but he never returned to work as he went missing. One week after he was reported missing, the police got some leads and discovered Jackson’s X-Trail motor vehicle, which was set on fire and abandoned in Retirement. This led to one suspect being taken into custody.”
Jackson’s body was later found in a shallow grave near the retirement community. Two men were later charged with his murder.
Chrisk
Another commenter brought up how all the attention is on the Trans community and not to lose focus. Gay guys getting assaulted still far out weighs any other violence to the LGBT community.
Ken A.
You sir are going to get flack for that very true statement.
Kangol2
Absolutely horrific. I hope they catch the attempted murderers ASAP.
Harley
Reason #2031 to not meet with people from a gay dating site except in a very public venue. And have a friend with you.
winemaker
Tragic this happened. That being said maybe the guy was closeted and thought this was a safe way to meet somebody allegedly gay. This reinforces simple common sense safety measures whenever you meet someone in person for the first time to meet in a public place. Every dating site, be it gay or straight has dating do’s and don’ts and the first one is always meet in person at a public location, like a cafe or bar and never, ever meet at your home or theirs in case it doesn’t work out, the person misrepresented himself, is a creep or if you get bad vibes and want to bail. You never can be too careful sad to say
Jon in Canada
Jamaica is a filthy backward barbaric nation that deserves no due consideration. The Rainbow Railroad has been getting queer people out when they can though it’s dangerous work. A straight friend said he was planning to take his GF with him to Jamaica and when he asked me why I was so disgusted, I educated him on what Jamaica is really like beneath the ever manicured tourist image it presents. He changed his destination and, given his job as a travel consultant, has since blacklisted Jamaica as a nation to visit.
As for hook up apps, as Harley noted, never meet anyone alone or in a secluded space, always in public and with a friend/acquaintance.
dannysax
Jamaica is on the list of countries very hostile to the gay community. It is one step worse than the Bahamas. I will never go there even if you paid me! It’s ludicrous that these mostly black populated countries are so homophobic, forgetting when they themselves were on the other end of the haters’ list!
Ken A.
They’re hostile to gays when they come here also.
Kangol2
“These mostly black populated countries [that] are so homophobic” were part of the British Empire, which violently criminalized homosexuality. Or did you forget? Predominantly Black and Afrodescendent countries like Angola, Curaçao, Suriname, Dominican Republic, etc., as well as Brazil, which has the largest Black/Afrodescendent population outside of Africa, and Venezuela and Colombia, which have large Black populations, do not have the same legal strictures against homosexuality and same-sexual desire. Where Britain invaded and conquered, it left its toxic anti-gay laws as a baseline, and that includes the US!
biagra2022
Kangol not just Britain, Spain, France, Portugal, Holland to name just a few..
biagra2022
Dannysax ……..Lets see White Countries that are homophobic : Poland which actually has LGBT-free zones are municipalities and regions of Poland that have declared themselves unwelcoming of an alleged “LGBT ideology”, in order to ban equality marches and other LGBT events. Hungary, Russia , Slovakia, Slovenia , Ukraine , Latvia , Lithuania, Bulgaria all white countries that are homophobic too
Ken A.
Lucky? he was burned and they cut part of his penis off. He’ll recover but at what cost?
biagra2022
I feel sorry for the victim however he should have realised where he was…….
Fahd
A very tragic situation – my heart goes out to the victim – imagine being 18 and gay on Jamaica, a country that seems to be a chaotic mess overall, not to mention the toxic homophobia.
I think Queerty should start adding the names of reputable international organizations that are working against homophobia to these stories of soulless criminality, so that people can make contributions as they are able and willing.
If the U.S. State Department doesn’t already warn gay people about travel to Jamaica, they really should.
biagra2022
So is the US is not a mess high unemployment rates, high crime rates, people unable to afford health care, people in debt etc?
Donald Trump was elected your president and you have the cheek to call Jamaica a mess lol.
gregg2010
Jamaica, a true vacation wonderland.
SinthiaDoom
I have warned many friends and family members of the dangers of both Jamaica and Hati. I did live on an island in the Bahamas ?? 40 some odd years ago. I worked on base but lived in town. I never had any real issues with anyone and well let’s just say my flame ? burned bright then.
biagra2022
Did you warn them about the dangers of the Us?
Chrisk
biagra2022
There are dangers in the US for sure. However, Jamaica is a special kind of hell. Jamaica is famous for being dangerous for gays. I’ve seen video’s of gays being chased down the street and being clubbed by roving bands of thugs while the town watches.
malerntogo
On a cruise ship a few ago my husband and I refused to even get off the ship in Jamaica. Not worth chancing it!
Invader7
Boycott Jamaica.. Not a scenic place either..