Homophobic attackers who spat at and pelted gay couple with fruit spared jail

Two men who chased a gay couple through north London before spitting at them, hurling fruit and shouting homophobic abuse have been spared jail despite being convicted of a hate crime.

Mariuzs Smietana, 46, and Dariusz Wawrzenczyk, 37, were sentenced at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court after being found guilty of assault by beating following an attack on Alex Grant, 34, and his partner in Gospel Oak last summer.

The court heard the couple were holding hands as they walked home from the Highgate Men's Ponds on Hampstead Heath shortly after 10pm on 1 July 2025 when they were targeted by the pair.

Prosecutor René De Silva said Smietana and Wawrzenczyk approached the couple on Mansfield Road and spat at them while shouting homophobic slurs in Polish. The abuse escalated when Smietana chased the men down the street and threw fruit at them, which he had taken from a nearby shop without paying.

Fearing for their safety, the couple called 999 and took refuge in a nearby pub before police arrested the attackers.

In a victim impact statement read from behind a privacy screen, Mr Grant's partner, who asked not to be named, said the attack had fundamentally changed how he and his boyfriend moved through public spaces.

Having moved to the UK from Turkey "for the chance to live openly and freely as a gay man", he told the court: "Since the attack, walking at night with my partner no longer feels as normal or safe as it did before.

"Whenever we go somewhere, I find myself thinking about how we will get home, which route we should take, and whether it is safe for us to walk together openly.

"I know these may sound like small considerations, but they have become part of my daily life, and I do not think a simple walk home with the person I love should evoke that kind of fear or calculation."

Mr Grant said the incident left him shaken and fearful that he might encounter the men again.

"The hate and vitriol we encountered that night has made me realise that even today I am, as a gay man, still vulnerable to violent homophobia," he said.

"What had been a quiet summer evening spent enjoying the weather swimming with my boyfriend turned into a night full of fear and angst which lasted for many days afterwards."

District Judge Vanessa Lloyd said the offence was aggravated by hostility towards the victims' sexual orientation.

"The offence was motivated by or demonstrated hostility based on sexual orientation," she told the court.

Despite the conviction, the judge ruled that the custody threshold had not been crossed and sentenced both men to 12-month community orders.

Smietana, of Wembley, and Wawrzenczyk, of Tottenham, were each ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity days. They were also ordered to pay £325 in costs and a £114 victim surcharge.

The court heard that Smietana had previously received a police caution for shoplifting, while Wawrzenczyk had been extradited to Poland in 2023 in connection with a non-conviction disposal for assaulting an emergency worker.

Judge Lloyd noted that both men had continued to deny responsibility for the attack and had shown no remorse.

She declined to award compensation to the victims, saying: "I don't think any amount of money can compensate for what happened to them that night.

"Anything that I awarded would just be a token amount, and it would provide a link between you and them."

Addressing the defendants, she added that the unpaid work and rehabilitation requirements would help them repay society for their behaviour and reduce the likelihood of any similar incidents in future.