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CHIEF MEETS TODAY TO DISCUSS HATE CRIME
Unprovoked attack on gay man produces outpouring of sympathy
Natalie Alcoba and Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator
Police Chief Brian Mullan will meet with members of
the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community
today to address concerns about a hate-biased attack
on a gay man.
Mullan said the 4 p.m. meeting with the GLBT
committee, made up of police and residents, was
originally scheduled for March 10.
"Given the circumstances that have recently occurred,
I thought it would be wiser to move it forward."
Early Saturday morning, somebody slashed Ronn Mattai's
face with a beer glass in the basement of the Absinthe
Club on King Street East. Hamilton police described
the attack as an unprovoked "hate crime" and said
owner of the Junction Cafe on King William Street was
targeted because of his sexual orientation.
Mullan said the meeting, which will be held at Central
Police Station, is intended to hear concerns from GLBT
community members and quell any anxiety. Similar
meetings have been called in the past.
Four days after the attack, Mattai's gracious smile --
which had welcomed customers to his cafe for two years
-- remains temporarily frozen under a mask of pain and
swollen tissue.
With more than 200 stitches, he eats through a straw
and can barely move his lips to form words. His
business partners Judith Padunsky and Amy Hollis say
he's heavily sedated and can't carry on a conversation
because of the pain and the stitches in his mouth.
They say it could be several weeks, or even months,
before his friendly smile graces the cafe again.
But if he could talk, he'd probably have a big "thank
you" for the people of Hamilton.
In the wake of the attack, the cafe has been flooded
with hundreds of cards, phone calls and e-mails from
well-wishers as far away as Vancouver and Venice,
Italy, with about 20 bouquets of flowers and a $100
donation from an outraged lawyer.
Padunsky said the lawyer, who dropped in unannounced
with the cheque yesterday, had never heard of Mattai
before he read about the attack.
"He had no idea who the person was," Padunsky said,
but "he was so outraged, he had to act. This was his
way of acting. He said to use the money for Ronn's
recovery."
A trust fund has been set up for Mattai by cafe
employees. Donations can be deposited at the BCP Bank
at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Barton Street,
account 20050598, or dropped off at the cafe.
Padunsky also got a call from a Vancouver man who met
Mattai when he dined at the cafe during a business
trip about a month ago.
"He told me the whole West Coast is thinking about
it."
There was also a message from a Hamilton family
vacationing in Venice, where they heard of the attack.
Hollis wasn't surprised by the outpouring of affection
and support for Mattai, whom she has known two and
half years.
"People who come to the restaurant want to see how
Ronn is doing -- eating is secondary," she said.
She said he built up a wide circle of friends through
his engaging personality and donations to various
charities. A native of Guyana, he emigrated to Canada
with his family 22 years ago and worked every end of
the food industry before opening the cafe with his
partners in 2002.
"He's very touched by the outpouring of support,"
Padunsky said. "Normally, he's the one who's taking
care of everybody else. Now the tables have been
turned and everyone is taking care of him. He's not
used to that situation."
Damien Dommer, owner of The Werx, an alternative
lifestyles club, said acts of "gay bashing," such as
vandalism or verbal assaults, occur periodically but
the severity of the attack on Mattai has shocked the
GLBT community.
Rodney Deeprose, vice president of the board of
directors of The AIDS Network, doesn't believe the
incident marks the start of a trend.
"I don't think there's an epidemic of crime against
gay people in Hamilton," he said. "This is a horrible
thing to happen to anybody for any reason."
nalcoba@thespec.com
905-526-2409
plegall@thespec.com
905-526-3385
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