According to a staggering new report from Miami Herald, per Broward County prosecutors, one Florida family has officially and rightfully been charged with hate crimes after they kidnapped and brutally assaulted a gay man, beating him so viciously and severely that he was left permanently blind.
Inna Makarenko, 44, Yevhen Makarenko, 43, and Oleh Makarenko, 21 — two parents and their son of Pompano Beach — have reportedly been formally charged on counts of first-degree attempted murder, burglary with battery, and kidnapping “with prejudice.” All of the aforementioned charges have been enhanced under the state of Florida’s “hate crime” law. Because of this enhancement, all three of the family members now face life sentences in prison on each count against them.
The local report states that the three family members have already been in jail since last month, according to court records. An additional son of the parents, 25-year-old Vladyslav Makarenko was jailed in Alabama and has since been transferred to Broward County where he awaits a decision from prosecutors on the case as to whether he will also be charged under the enhanced Florida “hate crime” statute like his family.
Public court records reveal very few details about the alleged attack itself and the Broward State Attorney’s Office was not forthcoming with the details either. The unnamed victim was allegedly attacked somewhere around August 6th in Pompano Beach. One court document alleges that the family brandished a “firearm or other deadly weapon” when attacking the victim who has declined to be named publicly in the case.
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Broward State Attorney’s Hate Crime Unit, an entity created earlier this year by State Attorney Harold Pryor, was responsible for bringing the enhanced charges against the family of alleged attackers.
You can read the full report from the Miami Herald here.
Featured image via Broward County Sheriff’s Office
