Court convicts two young men in hate crime assault

Two young men have been sentenced to prison for a violent assault on two women in Horsens that a court classified as a hate crime based wholly or partly on the women’s sexual orientation, DR reported Monday.

Horsens District Court sentenced an 18-year-old man to one year and three months in prison and a 17-year-old boy to 10 months. The assault took place near Horsens railway station during the night of January 17.

The defendants shouted insults about the women’s sexual orientation, hit them several times around the head with a truncheon and sprayed them with pepper spray, South-East Jutland Police said in a statement.

The 18-year-old was also convicted of assaulting a man in Horsens nightlife on January 4. He was expelled from Denmark and given a six-year entry ban. He was remanded in custody after the verdict.

Prosecutor’s representative Thomas Vestergaard said the ruling underlined that people should not be discriminated against or subjected to violence because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or similar grounds.

The case also covered an assault on a man who was subjected to violence and knife threats in Vitus Beringsparken, a park in Horsens, on January 2. The 18-year-old and a third defendant, also aged 18, were convicted in that case.

The third defendant was sentenced to three months in prison and received a warning of expulsion. He has accepted the district court’s verdict, while the other two defendants are considering whether to appeal.