Ragazzo di Plymouth accusato di aver ucciso un uomo gay in un presunto attacco omofobo

Un diciannovenne è a processo con l’accusa di omicidio nei confronti del 24enne Drew Perham, dopo che i pubblici ministeri hanno riferito alla giuria che lo aveva attirato al porto turistico di Plymouth, lo aveva aggredito violentemente e lo aveva spinto in acqua.

Layton Randle, 19, is accused of murdering Drew at King Point Marina in Millbay in the early hours of 25 January.

As reported by Plymouth Live, the court heard that police divers later found Drew’s body on the seabed after he had been in the water for around 34 hours. A post-mortem found that he died from drowning.

The prosecution alleges that Randle arranged for Drew to travel with him and others to the marina by car, then told Drew to get out of the car. Witnesses are then said to have seen Randle launch an “unprovoked and unexpected attack”, punching Drew repeatedly as he retreated towards the edge of the marina.

Prosecutors allege that Drew made no attempt to fight back and instead tried to protect his head from the blows. Randle is then accused of pushing him into the water, which was around nine degrees Celsius that night.

The court heard that bruising to Drew’s body may have been consistent with him attempting to pull himself from the water onto a nearby pontoon. He also suffered three fractured ribs, bruising and cuts to his face.

The prosecution has also pointed to alleged homophobic comments made by Randle in the aftermath. Randle is accused of repeatedly referring to Drew as a “gay lad” and, in one Snapchat conversation, allegedly calling him a homophobic slur. Prosecutors said these comments could provide the jury with “some insight” into how and why the two men ended up at the marina and why Drew was assaulted.

Randle has accepted that he assaulted Drew and has offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but he denies intending to kill him or cause serious harm.

The court also heard that Randle allegedly discussed the attack with multiple people afterwards, including telling others that he had “beaten the s*** out of Drew” and pushed him into the water. He later recorded a video in which he described allegedly “tricking” Drew into coming to his hotel and going to the marina with him.

The trial is ongoing, and the allegations against Randle have not been proven at this time.

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