Seven years jail for 'hate crime' machete attack on gay man
By Elizabeth Roberts
A thug who chopped a gay man's face with a machete in a homophobic attack has been jailed for seven years.
Sending Rashad Cooper to prison yesterday, Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves warned that such crimes of hate will not be tolerated in Bermuda.
"By its sentence the court should, I think, send a strong message to the accused and other like-minded individuals that behaviour such as his, motivated such as his, shall not be tolerated in this modern, civilised, enlightened and fair-minded society," he said.
Cooper, 26 – older brother of the murdered Cooper twins – had a history of violent crime and homophobia before he launched the attack on Shawn Nusum, 25, in the early hours of November 15 last year.
His Supreme Court trial heard how he had taunted Mr. Nusum, of St. David's on previous occasions over his sexuality, calling him a "faggot" and similar names.
On the night in question, the pair got into a dispute in Club Ovation, Water Street, St. George's, when Cooper taunted Mr. Nusum once again.
He later lay in wait for Mr. Nusum, and as he left the premises he hit him about the face with a machete. The victim suffered a fractured nose, jaw and cheekbone. A cut to his left eyebrow has left him unable to raise it, and he will be permanently scarred.
Cooper, of Fenton's Drive, Pembroke, denied charges of unlawful wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and having a bladed article in a public place. He claimed during his trial that another man was responsible for inflicting the injuries on Mr. Nusum.
However, the jury convicted him by a majority verdict after just under three-and-a-half hours of deliberations yesterday.
Mr. Justice Greaves opted to sentence Cooper immediately, since bladed article attacks have a mandatory minimum sentence unless there are mitigating circumstances – of which there were none.
As he explained the rationale behind the sentence, the judge also noted the ongoing political campaign in Bermuda to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by adding it to the Human Rights Act.
"It is a human right of every citizen that he ought not to be discriminated against on the basis of race, his origin and such. This court can see very little difference between such rights and the rights and expectations not to be violently attacked on the basis of one's sexual orientation," he commented.
He said of this particular case: "The circumstances are indeed serious. It appears from the evidence that the attack against the complainant by the accused was motivated only by his dislike of persons or this person with such a sexual orientation as that of the victim, who says he's gay.
"In some jurisdictions, such as the United States of America, such offences have come to be known as hate crimes and they attract penalties much above that attracted by the normal offence.
"No such legislation has yet been introduced in this jurisdiction, nor has the defendant been so charged, but the court should take into account the basis for the attack on the part of the defendant. And the court does indeed find that basis to be an aggravating factor."
