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A 28-year-old gay man has been viciously attacked by a group of men after being baited to a Perth park via hook-up app Grindr.

The man arranged the meet-up after beginning a conversation with another profile on Friday night, Out In Perth reported.


He arrived at the arranged location and was then lured to Bennett Park in Doubleview.

A group of men waiting at the park attacked him, calling him “a pedo” and abusing him with slurs like “fag” while bashing him.

The victim was left with a bruises, a black eye and possible facial fractures.

He managed to escape the group after the assault, which took place sometime between 10:30pm and 11pm on Friday night.

Though the men attempted to take the victim’s wallet and phone, he was able to get back to his car and leave the park without them being stolen.

Two Perth men last year plead guilty to luring men to public places using Grindr and assaulting them, with the ringleader, James Joseph Katchan, viewing himself as a vigilante with a view to “guard the area from faggots and paedophiles”.

Katchan was jailed for six years over the series of assaults, four of which occurred over 10 days, with one involving a man being bashed using a baseball bat.

Cody Parkinson, who also participated in the assaults, was jailed for two years, as were two other unnamed participants.

In the case of the fifth assault, Katchan and his group also stole the man’s money, car and house keys, and destroyed his phone.

A Canberra teenager was also jailed last year for his role in a scam that involved baiting men using Grindr and attempted to extort money from them, leading to one victim committing suicide.

Melbourne man Timothy Ruge was charged with blackmail last year after demanding money in exchange for not outing a man he corresponded with using Grindr.

In 2013, Warren Batchelor was brutally bashed at Middle Swan Reserve in Perth and later died from the injuries. His two assailants were convicted of murder.