Roisin Prendergast, 20, and her girlfriend Ciara Murphy, 17, were left unconscious and beaten following an unprovoked homophobic attack in Limerick, Ireland.

The two were on their way to get some late-night food, and at around 2 a.m., two men began hurling anti-gay slurs at the couple.

Roisin later recalled:

“We had literally left our apartment only minutes before when these two grown men started shouting abuse at us about being lesbians. Initially we shouted back as we are used to this kind of abuse – but then they walked back towards us and started shoving us roughly.”

The shoving turned more violent, and the women were thrown to the ground.

As Ciara tells it:

“Suddenly, the men pushed us to the ground. They were stepping on our chests, they kneed and kicked us.”

After approximately ten minutes of attacking the couple, the two men left with the girls’ hats. Roisin and Ciara thought the ordeal was over.

It wasn’t.

“We thought it was over. Then one guy came back, threw Ciara against a shop window and ripped up her hat in front of her,” Roisin said.

When it was all finally over, Ciara was unconscious from a blow to the head, and Roisin lay next to her, bloodied and in shock.

Some passersby noticed the scene and alerted emergency services.

The two men, identified as being in their early-mid twenties and “well-dressed, as if coming back from a night out,” have not been identified as of yet.

An investigation is currently underway.

Roisin later posted on Facebook:

I know our bruises will heal, I know we will be ok but this is not something I am going to let go. Watching someone you love getting hurt while you yourself are getting hurt is not something anyone should ever have to endure straight or gay. This to me was a hate crime. I am finished crying, today starts the first of many actions which will be taken to get justice.

via Irish Independent