The victim of an alleged homophobic attack is speaking out with his side of the story, in which his ex-boyfriend and the ex’s family are accused of badly beating him over the relationship. Authorities said the victim lost his eyesight as a result of the attack.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office have said that one of their deputies responded to the victim’s apartment complex on Aug. 6, 2021 on an unrelated matter, but came across his front door ajar. The man was lying on the floor—and there was blood and damage around his apartment.
The Makarenkos, including Oleh, allegedly attacked the man in his apartment after the family discovered the gay relationship, which stretched from November 2020 to the alleged attack. Toward the end of July 2020, Oleh and the man allegedly did not speak for two weeks after getting into an argument.
“During this time, [the victim] logged onto his laptop, which Oleh had previously used,” deputies wrote. “[He] then located text messages from Oleh’s mother, Inna Makarenko. The text message which were sent to Oleh, stated that Oleh’s [father] found out that he was a homosexual and had a boyfriend. [The victim] then made phone contact with Oleh who advised him that his father was now treating him poorly and was not accepting him. He also advised that his mother was going to force him to marry a woman.”