A jury in Bermuda
heard testimony last week concerning an alleged antigay
hate crime that left one man with fractured facial bones and
a two-inch gash over his eye, the Bermuda Sun
reports.
According to
medical evidence presented Thursday in the island nation's
supreme court, the victim, Shawn Nusum, had his cheek and
jaw broken in the machete assault, while his nose was
fractured and his ability to raise the injured eyebrow
impaired.
The defendant,
Rashad David George Cooper, is charged with carrying a
machete in public and unlawfully wounding Nusum with intent
to do him grievous bodily harm. Cooper denies both
charges, telling the jury that another man
inflicted the injuries on Nusum.
Nusum told jurors
earlier that Cooper had taunted him on several earlier
occasions for being gay, calling him "faggot" and other
slurs. The taunts escalated into the attack in the
early morning of November 15 in a nightclub parking
lot in the town of St. George, following an argument
between the men inside the club, Nusum testified. Nusum said
that as he was walking toward his motorcycle, Cooper
approached him and slashed him around the face with a
machete.
Cooper said he
was at the club that night and indeed argued with Nusum,
but he said a man named Kent was Nusum's attacker.
Further testimony
is expected throughout this week. (The Advocate)
