Gay man beaten to death
2001-11-19 20:44
Toronto - A gay man was beaten to death over the weekend in a park in Vancouver, apparently the victim of a hate crime, police said.
Aaron Webster, 41, was found near death by his best friend in
Stanley Park in an area where gay men cruise for casual sex,
authorities said.
The friend, Tim Chisholm, tried to revive Webster but he died
before help arrived early Saturday.
Police said Webster had been beaten with either a baseball bat
or a pool cue by a group of three or four men.
"We've got no decent description of the suspects," police spokesperson Scott Driemel said, adding that there
were few leads in the case.
Gays feel victimised by prejudice
If Webster was killed because of his sexual orientation, it
would be the first hate-motivated murder of a gay man in the
province of British Columbia, said Cpl Mike Labossiere of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Hate Crime Unit.
An estimated 1 500 people rallied and offered prayers and poems on Sunday in Webster's memory.
City Police Inspector Dave Jones, who attended the service, said Webster was the victim of "a hate crime, pure and simple."
Vancouver was generally considered safe and welcoming to gays,
said Bill Coleman, a forensic pathologist and spokesperson for the city's gay community.
However, Coleman said a poll showed that nearly half the gay men in Vancouver felt they had been victimised by prejudice at one time or another.
Naked except for his hiking boots
Chisholm said he was driving home from Stanley Park early
on Saturday when the headlights from his van illuminated a bloodied, naked body lying in a parking lot.
When Chisholm got out to investigate, he saw a man lying
unconscious on the pavement, naked except for his hiking boots. The man's arms were covering his face as if he had been protecting himself.
Chisholm ran back to his van and called police from his
cellphone to get an ambulance. The operator asked Chisholm to go
back to the body and check for a pulse.
"When I took his arm back, I realised who it was," Chisholm told people gathered for the memorial service.
Webster died in his arms while he attempted CPR, a tearful
Chisholm said. They had been friends for 15 years.
"I'm saying, `Aaron, come on Aaron. Just wake up for God's
sake.' But he didn't. He just gasped a few times."' Chisholm
recalled.
Police and paramedics arrived minutes later, but were unable to save Webster. - Sapa/AP
- SAPA