A horror night on Sydney’s Oxford Street left six people bashed – two of them in hospital with serious injuries.

Police arrested a man in his 30s who swung karate kicks at several people walking down the ‘gay golden mile’ on Monday night.

Gay equality campaigner Simon Margan (pictured in hospital) was left with a shattered eye socket – he was victim number three of one man’s six-assault anti-gay rage, he believes.

Wearing chunky military-style boots, the man, believed to be aged in his 30’s, began his rampage from Taylor Square and continued to outside Gloria Jean’s two blocks away, around 9pm on Monday, Margan tells Same Same.

“I’d seen him before, tearing down gay event posters and mumbling about ‘eradicating gays’. He tried to kick me and at first he missed – I stood back, but he took aim, hitting me in the eye. I’d thought he’d had a knife.

“I screamed for help, as my face started bleeding. The attacker had been so calm. He didn’t say anything. I think his attacks were premeditated – he was doing it because he hated gays.” His assailant did not seem drunk, Margan adds.

Pain and shock

Margan arrived at St. Vincent’s Hospital at 11pm, where he was told his eye socket had been shattered. Still in pain, he tells Same Same this morning from his bed at home that his life has been “savagely torn apart”.

“I have to go to the plastic surgeon on Monday, once his swelling subsides. They say they’ll put in titanium mesh to stabilize my eye – I’ll have to have it in forever.

He plans to testify in court against his assailant, and encourages others to come forward to make a compliant to the police. “Sometimes people don’t follow these things up – but I feel like I have to, to avoid this happening to anyone else.”

Margan says he’d been attacked for being gay before, but never on Oxford Street. “I have heard of it happening to others but not to me.”

Surry Hills Police confirm that six people were injured on Monday night on Oxford Street. A male suspect was apprehended at the scene and is now facing nine charges. He has been refused bail. CCTV footage from along Oxford Street can be used in evidence in a criminal trial.

Speak up!

If you or someone you know experiences or witnesses violence around Oxford Street, the police are there to listen and respond to your concerns.

Reporting is essential in order for the authorities to respond to homophobic violence, to develop education and prevention strategies, inform our community of risks, and lobby governments for improved security.

To report to police, don’t hesitate to call 000 in an emergency or, for non-urgent matters call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444.