Woman on London night bus felt 'cornered and scared' of teens after kissing girlfriend

Christine Hannigan and Melania Ramirez pelted with coins and surrounded by a group of teenagers on a night bus
Melania Geymonat
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A woman who was pelted with coins and surrounded by a group of teenagers when she kissed her girlfriend on a London bus told a court today she felt “cornered and scared” when they started hurling homophobic insults.

Christine Hannigan was returning home from a date in central London with Melania Ramirez when they were approached by a group of boys on the top deck of the N31 bus.

CCTV captured the nine-minute incident which ended in a violent scuffle on the back seats, with both women left bloodied and bruised as the boys ran off.

At Highbury Corner youth court today, Ms Hannigan said the couple had been subjected to “aggressive” homophobic comments and the boys had made sexually-charged gestures.

“They wanted us to show them how lesbians have sex — they said ‘show us’”, she said. “It’s pretty intimidating to be cornered and people to make homophobic comments in a closed space.”

Melania Geymonat pictured as she recovers

Ms Hannigan said she had been struck by one of the coins, and had told the teenagers: “Throw another coin and see what happens.” She told the court she feigned illness to try to diffuse the situation and avoid a confrontation.

“I was pretending to not feel well. It was pretty scary,” she said. “It was scary and I deal with a lot of harassment in London and I was kind of sick of it ... they did not deserve a response from me.

“They were being extremely aggressive then it became physical. I felt cornered and it was pretty scary. I stood up and I did something to confront (the coin thrower).”

She added that the incident in May had begun when the boys had seen her and Ms Ramirez “clearly together in an affectionate sense”.

Both women were seen being struck in the tussle at the end of the incident.

The boys, aged 17, 16, and 15, have all pleaded guilty to public order offences.

District Judge Susan Williams said yesterday: “This is two women out together for the evening, they were behaving in an overtly affectionate fashion towards each other.

"The group of young men at the back of the bus thought this was all an enormous joke and came down like the tide washing in.

"They clustered, crowded round them, like it was some sort of sideshow. They seemed to think it was some sort of joke and behaved inappropriately.”

The 17-year-old boy admits he threw coins at the women but he denies there was “any hostility based on sexual orientation”. He also denies making a kissing gesture towards the women.

A hearing is taking place today to determine whether his behaviour was fuelled by homophobia. The other two boys are due to be sentenced next month. The hearing continues.

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