Police have been accused of ignoring a gay-bashing in Johannesburg, South Africa over the weekend:

Gerald Pereira and his boyfriend, Stephan Annandale, were leaving Capitol Music nightclub in Rosebank when they were accosted by four men who made homophobic comments, followed by one man allegedly punching Pereira. His lip bleeding, Pereira knocked on the window of a passing police van and pointed out the attackers.

He said the three officers mumbled that they would help. “They drove up to the guys, spoke to them for about five seconds and then just drove off,” he said.

It was too dark to take down the van’s licence plate.

Annandale said he called the local police station, which was about 2km away, for help, but was told it would take an hour for a police car to arrive. Pereira said the next day, he laid a charge of assault and complained about the officers at the Rosebank station.

The Rosebank Killarney Gazette has more on the incident:

“We had just left a theme party at a club, and wanted to get something to eat. I was dressed as Marilyn Monroe and my boyfriend Gerald Pereira wore an afro wig. We put our wigs in the car and bought food from a vendor on the sidewalk,” said Stephan Annandale.

He said that as they stood on the sidewalk and ate, a group of between four and six men who appeared to be in their 20s approached them.

“One asked why I was wearing a dress, and Pereira replied ‘Maybe he likes it’. The men asked if we were gays and we said that we were. Then they started verbally abusing us, calling us ‘fags’,” said Annandale.

He said he and Pereira responded angrily, and Pereira told the men to “f*** off”.

One of the men allegedly ran up to Pereira and punched him in his face. He wore a ring which scratched Pereira’s shoulder and then tore open his lip.