“Bruises fade away but mentally it never goes away."

Lesbian Couple Traumatized After Being Urinated On And Attacked On Train

Nearly a year after being assaulted by a man on a train, a lesbian couple say they’re still scared to hold hands in public.

The couple was attacked by 28-year-old Jamie Shaw while on a train at Manchester Piccadilly Station in January 2016.

According to court testimony, the couple boarded the train after a night out when they were spotted by a drunk Shaw. He began jeering at them before asking: “What is it with you lesbians?”

The pair responded amicably—in response, the 28-year-old began to urinate on them.

When they rose to challenge him, Shaw attacked, hitting one of the women in the nose and punching the other in the eye. The latter fell unconscious to the floor and had to take several days off work to recover from the injuries.

Aside from the physical pain, the incident left both women traumatized and nervous about being open with their relationship.

“I cry in the bath when I’m on my own from my partner. I don’t want to upset her,” one of the women said in court. “Bruises fade away but mentally it never goes away.”

“Every time we used to go out we used to hold hands but now we are worried about the reaction from people.”

Though the defense argued that Shaw wasn’t homophobic and that he’d only assaulted the women because he was drunk, the judge disagreed, calling that line of thinking “quite distressing.”

“These two ladies were minding their own business and doing nobody any harm,” the judge said in his ruling last week. “But they were approached by one of your friends. Almost incredulous, they responded in a courteous manner. You did not confront them verbally, instead you urinated upon them.”

He concluded: “The fact that someone could do that in those circumstances is frankly almost unbelievable.”

A few days after the judge sentenced Shaw to 28 months in prison, another gay couple was attacked while boarding a London train on Valentine’s Day.