POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Four members of a family, a father, a mother and two brothers, are locked up in jail, three of them are accused of beating a man because of his sexual orientation, leaving him blind.
Oleh Makarenko, Inna Makarenko and Yevhen Makarenko are charged with attempted first-degree murder, battery during the burglary of a dwelling and kidnapping.
All three charges against the three family members were filed as hate crimes.
The State Attorney’s office said the crime took place back on Aug. 6, 2021.
According to prosecutors, the victim, a 31-year-old man from Pompano Beach, was beaten so bad that he has been permanently blinded and sustained other serious injuries.
The three family members were arrested back in March and then appeared in court.
The youngest suspect, Oleh, is just 21 years old.
“He drove the vehicle, he got them inside the property, where they were able to gain access to the victim, and just the same argument as far as the intent that I made for his fellow arrestee. He witnessed the incident, made no attempts to intervene during a 14-hour period after the incident, made no calls for 911 to have the victim get medical assistance,” said a prosecutor.
The maximum penalty for each of the three charges, in this case, is life in state prison.
The fourth family member has also been charged with attempted first-degree murder, battery during the burglary of a dwelling and kidnapping. As of now, none of those charges were filed as a hate crime.
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