Gang detained over transgender student stab attack

A gang of youths has been jailed after they lured a student to a north-west London car park where she was beaten up and stabbed because of her transgender identity.

The Old Bailey heard the victim, who was aged 18 at the time, had been under the impression she was attending a roller disco with friends at Harrow Leisure Centre on 10 February last year.

Prosecutors said she was attacked during a 45-second pre-planned assault as revenge for performing a sex act on one of the teenagers who had not realised she was transgender.

Sentencing the group on Thursday Judge Philip Katz KC said the ambush was "vicious" and had "elements of transphobia and revenge".

Summer Betts-Ramsey, 20, of Barnet; Bradley Harris, 18, of Harrow; Shiloh Hindes, 18, of Peckham; Camron Osei, 18, of Tadworth and a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named due to legal reasons, each pleaded guilty causing GBH with intent.

Judge Katz sentenced Betts-Ramsey - who boasted on Snapchat about stabbing the victim - to eight-and-a-half years at a young offenders institute.

Harris, Hindes and Osei were each told to serve three years in detention for their roles. The 17-year-old boy was given a youth rehabilitation order, a three-month curfew and told not to enter Harrow or contact any of the other defendants.

A 17-year-old girl, who was 16 at the time, admitted stealing the victim's handbag during the attack and was given a supervision order for 12 months having already spent a year in custody.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said weeks before the attack, the victim, who has not been named, was invited to join a Snapchat group formed in order to arrange a trip to the roller disco event.

Harris, Osei, Hinds, and the teenage boy were members of the group and Ms Heer said when the victim first joined there "was some flirting between the boys and the girls".

Ms Heer said Harris invited the victim to his home on 29 January and while in his bedroom she recalled Harris being on the phone to a friend who said she was transgender.

"Having been attacked in the past because of her transgender identity, she denied it," Ms Heer said. "She and Harris then kissed and the victim performed oral sex upon him."

Unbeknown to the victim, footage of the sex act was recorded and then shared on Snapchat, the court heard.

Another friend then contacted Harris to say the victim was transgender and he threatened to "stab her if she lied".

"Although she did not believe that Harris would use the knife, she felt intimidated and admitted that she was transgender," Ms Heer added.

She said in the days that followed Harris recruited Betts-Ramsey to "beat up" the victim and plotted the attack with others in the Snapchat group.

On the day of the attack Betts-Ramsey, Harris, Osei, Hinds and the 17-year-old boy waited for the victim at a bus stop near to Harrow Leisure Centre.

As the victim got off the bus at 18:51 GMT she saw the group of teenagers running along Masons Avenue in the direction of a car park and followed, the court heard.

"When she arrived, she was immediately attacked," Ms Heer said. "The victim recalls that she had no time to say anything or do anything to defend herself.

"The assault was filmed by others from the snapchat group on their mobile phones. These videos were then posted on social media."

Footage played to the court showed the victim being floored by several punches thrown by the teenagers who had surrounded her.

Ms Heer said once the victim was on the ground, Betts-Ramsey took out a knife and began stabbing her, while the others continued to kick, punch, stamp and drag her along the floor.

Members of the public intervened and called emergency services. The victim was treated by paramedics in the car park and then taken to St Mary's Hospital, while her attackers fled to a nearby Tube station.

Doctors found the victim suffered a wound to her nose, three stab wounds to her buttocks, two stab wounds to her right thigh, two stab wounds to her right flank, a stab wound to her left thigh and a stab wound to her left hand.

Ms Heer said Harris "feigned ignorance" by sending two messages to the victim asking what had happened.

Betts-Ramsey posted a Snapchat story which included footage of the attack, an image of the victim on a ventilator and a number of transphobic slurs, the court heard.

In the weeks that followed Betts-Ramsey, Harris, Osei, Hinds and the teenager were arrested and charged.

"The evidence suggests that the attack was committed in revenge because the complainant had lied to Bradley Harris about her transgender identity," Ms Heer said.

The victim described her ordeal in an impact statement to the court, saying she feared her injuries would impact her hopes of working as a model.

"I have become depressed and am always in fear leaving the house," she said.

"The incident has resulted in thick scars on my body which saddens me every time I see them - I feel like I am the one living a life sentence due to them.

"In the past I have experienced animosity towards me being transgender but I never thought anyone would have so much hatred for me and want to assault me in the way they did."

In his remarks Judge Katz said: "At the time of the attack the victim presented no threat to anyone, she did nothing to provoke the attack or justify it in anyway.

"The attack was all captured on CCTV - I have watched it more than once. It is sickening to watch. It was fast moving and lasted less than a minute. Everyone joined in enthusiastically and played their part."

In mitigation, Betts-Ramsey's defence barrister Greg Unwin told the court she had been "in and out of care" from childhood and had "expressed shame" for the transphobic language used and suffering she inflicted on the victim.

Hinds's barrister George Payne expressed a public apology explaining he "bitterly regrets his actions" and was "determined to use the time he will spend in prison to better himself."

Harris, who has one previous conviction for possessing a knife, lacked "immaturity" and "consequential decision making" his defence barrister Simon Ward said.

Osei's defence barrister Martin McCarthy KC said the 17-year-old boy - who was once a promising footballer and had collapsed on a pitch before the attack - had reflected on his behaviour as "disgusting" and spoken of "his own shame for his actions".