Metro Weekly

British man stabs gay man 12 times after sexual encounter while yelling, “I’m not f***ing gay!”

Stephen Taylor has been sentenced to three years in prison for stabbing victim after victim allegedly refused to perform a sex act on him.

gay, knife, stab
Photo by wu yi on Unsplash

A British man has been sentenced to three years in prison for stabbing a sexual partner 12 times in a homophobic rage after the man refused to perform a sex act on him.

Stephen Taylor, 24, of Tranmere, first met the victim at a house party in Wirral on June 4 in 2020. Taylor introduced himself as “Tyson” to the victim. The victim was told by a friend that Taylor was “straight,” and during a conversation with Taylor, told him he was gay.

The victim took a taxi home, but Taylor messaged him on Snapchat to tell him he had left his phone charger behind. The victim paid for Taylor to get a taxi to his Liverpool apartment around 3 a.m. and invited Taylor in for a drink, according to prosecutor Neil Bisarya.

While the two men were drinking, Taylor leaned over and grabbed the victim’s penis. The victim asked him what he was doing, to which Taylor allegedly replied: “Don’t you want a bit of fun?”

The victim told him, “you’re straight, I’m gay,” and tried to laugh it off, but Taylor did it again. Prosecutors claim Taylor kissed the victim, who reciprocated and let Taylor perform a sex act on him before the two went into the bedroom to have sex

Taylor reportedly wanted to have sex a different way, which the victim told him was “not his thing,” according to the Manchester Evening News.

They returned to the lounge and continued drinking, at which point the victim declined to perform a sex act on Taylor. Taylor then grabbed a knife that had been in the victim’s kitchen and stabbed him in the chest with it. The victim claimed Taylor jumped on top of him, gave his penis a “painful and hard squeeze” and stabbed him in the neck.

Birarya claimed in court that Taylor also stabbed the victim in the back as he tried to escape and in the face, “narrowly missing his eyes,” at which point the victim fell onto a coffee table. The victim allegedly hit Taylor over the head with a glass, and Taylor began choking him before the victim tripped Taylor and grabbed the knife away from him.

The victim allegedly pleaded with Taylor to let him call the ambulance and to stop his violent rampage. But Taylor became enraged, shouting, “I’m not f***ing gay!’ Taylor also spewed several homophobic epithets, including calling the victim a “f***ing f****t.”

The victim testified in court that he “thought he was going to die” and tried to leave, but Taylor “rugby tackled him” in the hallway, and the two fell down the stairs. Taylor then left, while the victim called police.

See also: Oregon man accused of using Grindr to attack gay man, beating him with a wooden club

Officers arrived at the victim’s apartment at 5:54 a.m. and found him “covered in blood,” reports the Liverpool Echo.

Police later arrested Taylor after receiving reports of a naked man in the street. Taylor reportedly told police: “I didn’t do it” when they approached him.

The victim was taken to the hospital and treated for an “extensive open wound” to the neck that was about 10 centimeters long, 5 centimeters wide and 5 centimeters deep, as well as cuts to his face, two stab wounds on the right side of his chest, an additional stab wound to his left armpit, cuts to his left arm, and fractures to his right foot.

The victim testified in court that he is “physically and emotionally broken” from the incident, and is undergoing counseling and taking medication for sleep problems, depression, anxiety and PTSD. He has since moved out of his apartment and has left his job as a mental health nurse due to his own trauma.

Anne Duke, the defense lawyer for Taylor, argued that the victim was the aggressor and that Taylor was defending himself when he grabbed the kitchen knife. Duke also claimed that the knife was being used to cut drugs. She also argued that Taylor had not committed a “homophobic attack,” maintaining that the victim had attacked her client after the two had sex.

But Judge Garrett Byrne, of Liverpool Crown Court, determined that Taylor had “pestered” the victim for more sex, telling Taylor, “After he declined, you lost your temper and attacked him.” Byrne, listening to evidence from both men and watching CCTV footage from inside the man’s flat, continued, telling Taylor: “You were the aggressor at all times, other than when the victim was forced to hit you on the head with the glass.”

“Having seen the CCTV, it shows you are not trying to get out… it shows you detaining the victim in order to continue the attack,” Byrne added. He also said he believed the attack was “at least in part motivated by some homophobia, given the remarks attributed to you by the victim, which I conclude you did in fact use.” He said the victim’s broken foot was a result of falling down the stairs while Taylor was trying to detain him.

Byrne gave Taylor a sentence of three years for wounding the man during the attack, although he did not find the attack was premeditated. After the judge handed down the sentence, Taylor allegedly ripped off and threw his electronic tag, shouting at the judge, “You can f***ing have that, mate.”

See also:

Indiana court sides with gay Catholic school teacher fired for entering same-sex marriage

Milwaukee parents sue school district for affirming their child’s gender identity

Students protest at Baltimore Catholic school after priest forces girl to remove LGBTQ shirt

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