His body was discovered by his husband on New Year's Day.

New Zealand Gay Man Thrown Off A Bridge In Homophobic Hate Crime Will Likely Never Walk Again

A New Zealand gay man was thrown from a bridge and left for dead in an apparent hate crime after rejecting the advances of a married straight man on New Year’s Eve, according to the victim’s husband.

Maioha Tokotaua, 33, found his husband’s mangled body underneath a train bridge in the Queensland town of Gladstone early Sunday morning. Though alive, Joth Wilson suffered several injuries, including broken bones, burns, a brain hemorrhage and a severed spinal cord.

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For the past five days, Wilson has been kept on life support at a local hospital. Earlier this week, doctors revealed to Tokotaua that it was unlikely that the 25-year-old would ever walk again.

Though police have yet to confirm if a third party was involved in the attack, Tokotaua believes that a group of men who harassed the couple on New Year’s Eve after one “made an advance that Joth rejected” are to blame.

“There’s no money involved, no drugs, no debt, there’s just no motive for the attack other than they were intimidated that we might tell their families,” he said.

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According to Tokotaua, Wilson had gone into town just before midnight on Saturday to buy a final pack of cigarettes before giving them up as a New Year’s resolution. When he didn’t return, his husband went looking for him.

He discovered his body beneath the bridge at around 2 a.m. on Sunday. At first, he thought it was a suicide attempt until he noticed that Wilson’s wallet and hat had been stolen.

While police maintain that the burns on Wilson’s body came from power lines strung above the train bridge, Tokotaua thinks they are from “chemical or lighter fluid that has been poured on him and set alight,” adding, “it was a gay hate crime.”

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The couple were legally married in New Zealand three years ago and were in Australia to visit family. Together, the pair have three adopted children and have helped raise 15 foster kids.

Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Lindsay of the Gladstone Police Criminal Investigations Branch said police were still “trying to work out the circumstances as to him being at the bottom of the bridge.”

“The investigation of a third party being involved is still being investigated,” he concluded.

h/t: Yahoo