A man was in tears after he was verbally and physically abused as he walked home from the bus stop.
The man was walking down Seaview Road in Liscard Village on Saturday, April 8, at around 8.55pm when he was approached by three people wearing balaclavas. The 39-year-old had been to his friend's home in New Brighton for a chippy dinner before getting the bus back to Liscard and walking home.
But when the group noticed he was limping slightly, they instantly targeted him and followed him through the village, hurling abuse at him. His wife, April, told the ECHO: "He got off the 432 after coming from New Brighton. He got off just at the end of Seaview Road. He started walking past the Duke [of Wellington] pub going round towards Tesco and he mentioned that there were at least three people all in balaclavas and wearing black.
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"They started saying things to him and he didn't really understand what they were saying until he was a few yards down the road. They just carried on saying horrible things.
"He has a learning disability and a physical disability. He walked past the Tesco then past the Royal Oak pub. He noticed the people were calling names and cycling towards him. He crossed over the road and then one of them went towards him and tried to hit him.
"He then just ran from there to home. We luckily live quite close but he was followed home where they were calling him names and threatening him. He came in and he was doing his normal thing but then he said that something had happened to him. I've never seen him cry like that. It was all about his disability."
The 39-year-old has learning difficulties as well as walking with a limp, with him living with his partner April in their home in Liscard. April, 32, also told the ECHO that nothing to this extent had happened before, leaving a lasting impact on her husband.
She said: "He's extremely nervous. He's had incidents happen in the past that have struck his confidence but this has taken him back a couple of steps.
"He doesn't want to go out and that's not like him at all. He's extremely independent. Although things like this would impact people normally, it's different because he's been targeted because of his disability.
"I keep trying to remind him that most people in the area around Liscard aren't like that at all. It's the just recurring few that seem to spoil it for everyone."
Officers are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident, or with any information to get in touch.
Detective Chief Inspector Louise Birchall said: "We simply will not tolerate such abuse on Merseyside and I’m sure the overwhelming majority of people would agree that such a vile hate crime has no place in our communities.
"All forms of hate crime are a force priority and we will continue to work hard to make sure people don’t suffer in silence and have the confidence to report it. I’d also like to take this opportunity to reassure every community that we serve across Merseyside that we do take this crime extremely seriously and that it will be dealt with sensitively and, when necessary, robustly.
"This occurred on a Saturday evening and there may have been people around who would have witnessed this incident. If you saw or heard anything, or captured any footage on mobile phone then please let us know. Information you hold could be vital to our ongoing investigation.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Merseyside Police social media desk via Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook Merseyside Police Contact Centre with reference 23000298983. You can also call 101 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or via their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information.
If, for any reason, you do not wish to report a hate crime to the police, the independent charity Stop Hate UK to run a 24/7 confidential helpline for all victims of hate crime on 0800 138 1625 or www.stophateuk.org. You can also download the Stop Hate UK reporting app on Google Play or the Apple App Store.
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