Buenos Aires: He was contacted through Grindr and they tried to kill him

They went to his house, drugged him, and tried to strangle him. The prosecutor's office is only investigating the crime as a robbery.

September 6, 2022

Agustina Ramos

Edited by Ana Fornaro

Pablo Delía, 34, was attacked in his home early Sunday morning by two men he had met through the dating app Grindr. They choked him, tried to drug him, and beat him. The incident is being investigated as a robbery, but Delía, along with the Argentine LGBT Federation (FALGBT), is seeking to have the charge changed to attempted homicide or attempted homicide during a robbery.

“It’s like a kind of network. He lures people on gay dating sites simply to harm them: in many cases, to drug and injure them,” Delía, a theater director, playwright, and teacher, told Presentes. He added in his Instagram stories that “there are more than five testimonies from people who were drugged, robbed, and assaulted by this same aggressor.”

Following the incident, the suspects were arrested by officers from the 1D Precinct of the Buenos Aires City Police. However, they have since been released. The case is being investigated as a robbery. Criminal and Correctional Court No. 53, presided over by Judge Érica Uhrlandt, is handling the case. When contacted by Presentes, they indicated they could not provide any further information.

“I lacked nothing”

“At no point did they tell me they wanted to rob me, they didn’t ransack my things, nothing is missing. The only thing they did try was to take my life, on more than one occasion. The police told me the case file is with the prosecutor’s office and that I can expand the complaint. That’s why I made the post. I was worried that these people could be released in two days for an attempted robbery,” Delía explained.

The FALGBT contacted the prosecutor's office and the court with the aim of "requesting that they change the charges and guarantee Pablo's safety," María Rachid, a member of the FALGBT's board of directors and head of the Institute Against Discrimination at the Ombudsman's Office of the City of Buenos Aires, told Presentes.

The attack occurred on Sunday around 12:20 a.m. at Pablo's home, located near the intersection of Maipú Street and Corrientes Avenue, in the San Nicolás neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

"I spoke to one of the people through Grindr and they asked if they could come over with a friend for a drink. I said yes, no problem. I told them I'd have to get up early the next day, but yes," the young man said.

The men arrived at the house with a bottle of vodka and insisted that Pablo drink it, but he refused. "They told me it was a new vodka that didn't have alcohol. That's when I started to doubt everything. But anyway, they were inside my house. They put on music, they wanted to listen to it very loud, and I turned it down," he explained.

One of the men invited him to his room. "I agreed to go, and then I heard a noise. I turned around, and there was the other man wearing two black gloves, and he started choking me," Pablo recounted. He also explained that at that moment they told him, "Relax, it'll only take a minute, and it'll be over."

Delía managed to escape by elbowing him in the stomach and ran. After a struggle and an attempt to hit her on the head with something, she was able to leave her apartment. Once she reached the building's entrance, a couple saw her and asked for help.

When the police arrived at the address, the men claimed not to recognize Pablo. However, he identified them as his attackers. "The police searched their backpack. They found three cell phones and my keys. Then they went up to my apartment and found the vodka bottle laced with clonazepam in the hallway trash can, along with an empty and a full bottle of clonazepam drops. There was another one under my couch. They also found the black gloves they had used to strangle me and two more white latex gloves," the young man explained.

The complaint on social media

Pablo decided to share what happened to him on social media , and the post quickly went viral. "I did it so that these people's faces would be known. By activating this and having the media pick it up, cases are coming to light of people who couldn't identify them," Delía explained. Several people contacted him to say they had experienced similar situations and that the aggressor was even the same person.

She also reported on social media that although the court had promised her protection if the aggressors were released, it was not granted. She added that “another plaintiff came to expand the complaint” and “the court decided not to accept it.”

For the young man, there is "a lot of shame" when it comes to talking about these issues "because there's a social stigma attached to using a network for meeting people." But he emphasized: "The reality is that people have to be able to enjoy their sexuality freely. That shouldn't put us at unnecessary risk."

"I say, don't be ashamed and speak out. There are many of us, and the support network that's being created is very important to me," she concluded.

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