St. George couple allegedly attacks gay man

ST. GEORGE — A St. George couple was arrested Saturday after allegedly setting up and following through with an attack on a homosexual man at a St. George residence.

Two men and two women were at a third woman’s house located on the 1500 block of 2100 West when the St. George Communications Center received a 911 hang-up call from the residence at 9:40 a.m. Saturday, according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest.

Police had responded to the same residence the night before after it was reported that 22-year-old Mohamed Fathi Oanaw got into a physical altercation with the second man, who is “openly homosexual,” about his sexual orientation and some property at the residence.

The incident Friday night resulted in an assault and criminal mischief, according to the police statement. However, at that time, the homosexual man declined pursuing charges against Oanaw and everyone went their separate ways for the night.

On Saturday morning, 38-year-old Mayra Dinora Casas, who is reportedly married to Oanaw but the two live separately, sent the homosexual man a text telling him to come back to the third woman’s residence to pick up the second woman’s belongings and “to talk about last night.”

Casas allegedly told the homosexual man that Oanaw was not at the residence and that it would be safe for him to pick up the belongings, the report stated. The man and the second woman then returned to the residence that morning and Casas invited the two inside.

Once inside the home, Oanaw exited a bedroom and charged at the man while screaming anti-homosexual slurs at him, according to the probable cause statement.

“Mohamed punched (the homosexual man) and knocked him back towards the kitchen while continuing to scream sexual slurs at him,” the arresting officer wrote in the statement. “Mohamed grabbed a chair to swing at (the man), but it was taken from him by (the third woman). Mayra was present and yelled slurs at (the man) while yelling for Mohamed to ‘get the fag.’”

Oanaw then allegedly unbuttoned his pants and partially exposed himself while repeatedly yelling at the homosexual man to perform a sexual act, according to the statement. The man pushed past Oanaw to escape down the hall but Oanaw grabbed him and began punching and kicking him.

“(The man) attempted to fight back and defend himself,” the arresting officer wrote. “They wrestled back and forth, breaking the door to the water heater room.”

Casas continued yelling anti-gay slurs and egging Oanaw on while the second woman was begging for them to stop, the statement read, but Oanaw allegedly threw the man down on a bathroom floor and continued attacking him.

Oanaw then took the man’s $800 smartphone from his pocket and threw it against the ground, shattering the screen, according to the report. Casas then stomped on the phone before picking it up and bending it until it snapped in half.

When the second woman attempted to call 911, Casas snatched her phone away from her, the report stated. Oanaw stopped hitting the man when the third woman, who lives at the residence, called the police.

“When I arrived on scene,” the officer wrote, “Mayra stated repeatedly that (the homosexual man) was mad about ‘gay sh—’ and that he was a ‘faggot’ who wanted to ‘(have sex with) my husband.’ Mohamed kept stating he hated ‘gay boys’ and that he was Muslim.”

According to the statement of probable cause, Oanaw was Mirandized by police and admitted to yelling sexual slurs, starting the physical fight, exposing himself and breaking the man’s smartphone.

“Under Miranda,” the officer wrote, “Mayra admitted nothing and answered every question with ‘no.’”

Oanaw and Casas were arrested and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.

Oanaw was charged with a second-degree felony for robbery, along with three class A misdemeanors for lewdness, assault and criminal mischief. He has since been released from custody on $13,900 bond.

Casas was charged with second-degree felony robbery, third-degree felony unlawful acquisition of a finance card, four class A misdemeanors for assault, criminal mischief, theft and possession of another’s identifying documents, and a class B misdemeanor for damaging a communication device.

Judge Jeffrey Wilcox of the 5th District Court, ordered $10,000 bail for Casas’ release pending trial. She was found indigent by the court during her initial court appearance Monday and will be represented by court-appointed attorney Aric Cramer. She is scheduled to make her next court appearance Dec. 21.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Ed. note: Clarification made Dec. 17: It was pointed out that the reported incident occurred on the 1500 block of 2100 West, not 1500 West block, although the street there is named 1500 West. “West” stricken from the block description for clarity

Email: kscott@stgnews.com

Twitter: @STGnews

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