WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO
Where are they now with the Halifax’s couple? Emma MacLean and her girlfriend, Tori, were out celebrating a birthday June 22nd Saturday night in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia until when a group of men began harassing them. It quickly turned into homophobic comments when a crowd of about ten men realized the two women were a couple.
After the women dared to yell back the group became violent. Emma said that the group pushed Tori down to the concrete and began attacking her,which she attempted to stop before they beat her as well. Junior student Anthony said “It probably would have been different if it was a straight couple because they would have probably said nothing about it.” Emma suffered a chipped tooth and broken nose from the incident, with both her and Tori left covered in bruises under their eyes and across their bodies. Emma said that her treatment was delayed after she went to the emergency room the night of and staff said that her nose was too swollen for surgery. Junior student at Liberty said “No men should put hands on a girl and no one should judge others for who they love.”
Emma says “I felt punches and kicks and then I felt it on my nose and there was blood. I just thought this needs to stop now,”
A witness alerted a nearby officer about the assault but the group of men had left by the time police arrived. Only one member of the group stayed behind to give a statement claiming that the women attacked them first. Law enforcement is investigating the incident but have not yet filed charges or made arrests.
Emma has been urging other witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. She states “I’m terrified to go downtown again in Halifax. I just feel like it’s so out of your control on what could happen,” “It’s overwhelming. I didn’t expect something like this to happen, especially with it happening during Pride Month as well.” Junior student Anthony said “It is sad what our world has come to .”
When The Coast reached out to Halifax Regional Police to request an interview about the attack, Const. Anne Giffin said “an assault occurred at approximately 1:50 a.m. on June 23 in the area of the 1600 block of Argyle Street in Halifax.” The couple were approached by another group who were not known to them and assaulted the couple. The incident remains under investigation.
Marisa spoke with the divisional commander who said he had no idea why the investigation would have been put on hold for four days while Const. MacLeod was off. She was told that the case should have been handed off to someone else in his absence. MacLean took it upon herself to post about the attack on her Facebook and she said she was flooded with responses including eyewitnesses sharing videos of the attack. She even had people commenting to identify some of the alleged attackers. As of July 7, the footage and images of the alleged attackers has not been formally released to the public by HRP, but have been shared by a few media outlets and are still on MacLean’s Facebook page. Neither Emma, Tori, or Marisa have heard a word from Const. McLeod or any other officer involved in the investigation since July 1. No arrests have been made.
