A trans woman has been left bloodied and disfigured after a man and three women beat her up in a suspected transphobic attack as she left a bar, with the police allegedly initially refusing to file a case.
Gay Pride march presenter and transsexual activist Scarlety Vasconcelos, 27, was attacked as she left the bar she had been drinking at with friends in the rural area of Morro da Cruz in the administrative region of Sao Sebastiao in Brazil’s Federal District.
The incident took place between the night of Sunday, 14th November, and the early hours of Monday, 15th November.
Vasconcelos said that a man she had never met asked her as she was leaving the bar if she had drugs, to which she replied no. She reported that she was then suddenly attacked.
She told local media outlet Metropoles: “I said I wasn’t involved with drugs. When I turned my back, he tripped me, followed by a smack to the face. I tried to defend myself.
“He was punching me and, still not satisfied, he started to grab my head and hit it against the kerb. Three women came to attack me alongside him.”
Eventually, Vasconcelos’ friends heard her calls for help and came to her rescue. She said: “There was a lot of aggression and name-calling. They beat me, my clothes were all dirty and I was all bloodied.”
Vasconcelos believes the man started attacking her after he tried to flirt with her and she rebuked his advances.
She said: “He walked past me, burnt me with a cigarette, apologised, and I said no worries. Very dry, without giving him much attention. I think he felt undervalued.”
It was only reportedly when a friend of Vasconcelos threatened to call the cops during the beating that the man left the scene.
Vasconcelos and her friend, named in reports as Fabio Martins da Silva, 33, then went to the police station to report the attack, but the police allegedly refused to file a report at first, saying that she needed a medical report in hand.
The two then went to A&E, but said Vasconcelos was unable to be seen to, allegedly due to a lack of medical staff. They then returned to the police station before giving up after reportedly waiting for around two hours.
Vasconcelos later took to social media to say: “For the first time in my life, I suffered homophobia. I couldn’t escape this one, being trans.
“They attacked me a lot. I really thought I was going to die. I’m grateful to God for giving me strength, and thank you very much to those people there who, had they not seen it, the guy would have killed me because he was hitting my head on the kerb.”
The police have said the case has been passed on to the relevant department, suggesting that they did eventually register it.
It is not clear if it is being actively investigated.
