American tourist beaten and robbed after Gay-Link in Jamaica

JAMAICA STAR: Plans by an American tourist to have a wild night of gay sex turned into a nightmare after he was beaten up and robbed by the men, one of whom he was giving oral pleasure.

The incident happened about 7:30 p.m., on February 24 at a hotel in the Corporate Area.

It all began after the tourist, a 29-year-old man, messaged someone on the gay-dating app, Grindr, who replied a few moments later with a photo of his penis.

Shortly thereafter, another person sent the complainant a picture of his penis on Grindr. Both persons asked the complainant if he wanted to ‘hook up’ and he invited them to the hotel he was staying.

About an hour later, both persons indicated to the complainant that they had arrived at the hotel and were waiting for him in the lobby. The complainant, in his statement to the police, said that he informed the first male that he was texting someone else, and asked if he was consenting to another person being invited to the ‘hook-up’. He said that the first man agreed.

The tourist indicated that all of them went into the elevator and headed for his room. He said that a third visitor was in the lift, but he didn’t know who he was. He said that after he opened his room door to let in the two men he consented to hook up with, the third man entered the room. The complainant said that he asked the third man to identify himself, but he hardly heard what was said as the man spoke so quickly.

It was reported by the complainant that upon returning to the room, one of the men had asked to use the restroom while another man dropped his pants and the complainant started to perform oral sex on him.

Immediately after, the complainant said he noticed that the third man went into the bathroom and it was at this point he noticed that his phone was missing.

He then began searching for his phone and heard it ringing in the bathroom, which was later found to be in the third man’s pocket. The man handed the phone to the complainant, who then asked the men to leave the room as he had become uncomfortable.

The man whom he was giving oral sex then grabbed the phone from him and placed it in his pocket. Another man in the room then punched the complainant in his face and pushed him on to the bed, while the third man put a knife to his neck and told him to be quiet.

The complainant said the other two men began searching the room looking for valuables and forced him to share the code for the vault in the room. He was allegedly repeatedly punched in the face to reveal PIN codes for bank cards and was forced to take off his clothes. His hands and legs were bound while the men ransacked the room.

He reported that he was robbed of a Samsung Galaxy Flip valued at US$1,000, two Eco smart glasses valued at US$550, a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 valued at US$400, cash to the tune of US$1,000 and J$100,000.

Following the incident, a taxi driver, who prosecutors allege carried the men to a hotel, was arrested and charged with robbery with aggravation, conspiracy to robbery with aggravation, accessory before the fact and accessory after the fact. He has pleaded not guilty when he made his first appearance in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday.

Prosecutors said that footage recovered from a closed circuit television (CCTV) system showed three men entering the hotel’s compound in a black Nissan Note, allegedly owned by the man who is now in custody. The vehicle was spotted some days afterwards at the Half-Way Tree Police Station. The driver reportedly told the police that he was chartered by four men from Half-Way Tree to go to the hotel then to be transported to New Kingston at a service charge of $2,000.

“Offica, a nuh me, enuh. A wah bwoy name Buba charter me from Half-Way Tree fi carry dem go up deh and den drop dem off a New Kingston, and dem run out a mi car and nuh pay me like a robot taxi mi did a run,” the driver reportedly said.

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague ordered that the driver be fingerprinted. He has been remanded until April 26, when a bail application is to be heard.

The judge could not help but notice that Grindr crimes in hotels appear to be a trend.

” I’ve been hearing about it a lot recently, lots of matters before the court,” the judge said. “Things are happening in these Corporate Area hotels, you know. I don’t want to stigmatise the hotels, but last week I had two such matters.”

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