Three members of a Florida family have been charged with a hate crime after they kidnapped and assaulted a gay man so viciously that he was permanently blinded, the Miami Herald reports.
The father-mother-son trio were charged this Tuesday with first-degree attempted murder, burglary with battery and kidnapping “with prejudice.” The charges were enhanced under Florida’s “hate crime” law, making all three subject to life in prison on each count.
Inna Makarenko, 44, Yevhen Makarenko, 43, and Oleh Makarenko, 21, have been in jail since last month. All of them have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have not decided if they’ll charge another son, 25-year-old Vladyslav Makarenko, under the hate crime statute.
The unidentified victim was attacked around Aug. 6 in Pompano Beach, but prosecutors have revealed almost no details about the attack. One court document says the trio brandished a “firearm or other deadly weapon” during the attack.
