Gay man slashed with meat cleaver and threatened with castration during disgusting homophobic robbery
Getting prepped and preened for Mardi Gras, what could have been a day of fun for Joseph Stanislav ended in horror as two men brutally attacked him in his Sydney home. (Jim Morris/GoFundMe)
The attack against a gay man in Sydney’s Mardi Gras in late February unfolded in a terrifying moment. A homophobe allegedly wielding a meat cleaver hacked at the man in his home and threatened him with castration.
“I am so frightened to go home,” the victim, Joseph Stanislav, said. “I am totally broken on the outside and inside – especially my heart.
“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy what I had to go through.”
Stanislav suffered lacerations to his face after two men barged into his unit in the upmarket Bellevue Hills suburb, February 29 afternoon.
As he was getting ready for Mardi Gras in his Old South Head apartment, the two suspects allegedly broke in demanding money. He told Star Observer that as he reached for his phone to show them his bank statements, they began furiously cutting his face with the brutal butcher’s utensil.
“I felt the cold blade go straight into my forehead, my nose and my eyes,” Stanislav said.
Joseph Stanislav’s attack rippled through the Sydney LGBT+ scene, with a GoFundMe set-up to aid him. (Jim Morris/GoFundMe)
Joseph Stanislav gashed with meat cleaver by two men robbing him.
As the perpetrators reportedly purged Joseph Stanislav’s house, upending furniture and hurling homophobic insults at him, they searched for cash.
“They asked for my money, then one of them went through my men’s carry-bag and my medicine bag. I had $150, and I had a packet of Valium and Endone in my medicine bag,” he explained.
“They said: ‘You’ve gotta have more money than this, you live in Bellevue Hill.’
“Then one of theme said: ‘What’s this? This is makeup you faggot!’
“Then their eyes went black. Both their eyes went black.
As two men attempted to rob a gay man of money, they dented his door in the ensuing scuffle with a meat cleaver. (Jim Morris/GoFundMe)
“[A suspect] told me to show him my bank statement. I had to reach for my phone to get the statement up, but when I reached for it the guy with the meat cleaver jumped and smashed me in the face.
I had to keep my composure otherwise these guys were going to kill me.
“Then one of them held up the knife and said, ‘Just do as you’re told or we’re going to cut your cock off. We’ll make you into a real girl.'”
Law enforcement from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command rushed to the scene and paramedics treated the victim at the scene before speeding him to St Vincent’s Hospital.
Forensic experts combed the property in a pursuit that led to the two men, 18-year-old Jay Ehlrich and 21-year-old Thomas Bowen-Hughes, being arrested.
Both appeared at the Waverly Local Court last Monday; bail was refused.
Following the horrific incident, loved ones of Stanislav hope to raise money for him by creating a GoFundMe which has raised nearly $900 in four days.
