Neighbour told transwoman to ‘go to Duke’s Mound’ in row over bicycle

A restaurateur told a homeless transwoman she was a rent boy who should go and live at Duke’s Mound in a row over where she parked her bike.

Faysal Soualah, 54, violently shook Stephanie Mercer’s bike after she locked it to railings outside the hostel in Percival Terrace where she was living.

Yesterday, he was found guilty of criminal damage and threatening behaviour after magistrates dismissed his claims he had not touched the bike or threatened Ms Mercer.

Brighton Magistrates Court heard Soualah had regularly complained about the bike being parked there as he wanted to plant flowers in the spot to improve the view from his neighbouring flat.

Giving evidence, Ms Mercer said she had been living in the hostel for about two or three months when the incident happened, and had regularly locked her bike up in the same spot.

She said: “He was concerned that the bike was spoiling his view from his flat … He was concerned about the flowers but there weren’t any flowers there at that time.”

She said she had come home one day in July 2022 and locked the bike up as usual, and soon afterwards she saw him “upending” the bike from the window so she rushed out.

She said the paintwork was scratched, the derailleur was out of line, one of the cogs were bent and there were stab marks on the tyres.

When she confronted him, she said he told her “I’ll put you on your arse before you know it, I’m a black belt in judo.”

She told the bench: “He called me a rent boy and said I should be living down at Duke’s Mound, not Percival Terrace. I don’t know if you know what Duke’s Mound is? It’s where the gay people go.

“I’m trans – I dress as a woman so he perceives that I’m gay, but I’m not, I’m straight.

“I only came out the November before, his transphobic attack was the first one I had experienced.”

She added: “He’s lukcy he didn’t get billed for a pair of heels because I broke my heels coming down the stairs so quickly.”

She also said he had suspected her bike had been “sabotaged” in the weeks leading up to the incident, saying “Every time I rode it, my bike was a bit more damaged and a tyre was punctured.”

The court also heard from Argelio Munoz, the hostel’s maintenance man, who said he had come out to see Soualah “aggressively shaking” the bicycle, and “punching the back of the tyre”.

The court was told that when interviewed, Soualah had claimed he made the rent boy comments to another hostel resident, who had been grabbing his genitals and licking his lips.

But in the dock, he denied having said anything like that to anyone.

He said living next to the hostel had been a nightmare since he moved in 24 years ago, but that during covid he had tried to improve the appearance of the grass next to the railings by planting flowers there.

Of the day in question, he said: “I didn’t do anything. I just picked up my buckets and left. I went home and he could see me calling the police. They gave me a reference number but never called up.”

He added: “I felt like a volcano ready to erupt.”

Prosecuting, Nigel Pilkington said: “This defendant is an angry defendant. He describes himself as a volcano ready to erupt.

Defending, John Naylor said: “The bike was in a pretty poor condition when it was parked there and the marks bear no relation to what would have been caused by someone shaking it.

“I’m going to suggest to you that evidence is inconclusive concerning the criminal damage.”

But chair of the bench Diana Hurrell said the bench disagreed, and found Soualah guilty of criminal damage and threatening behaviour, with a transphobic element.

The court was told Soualah has previous convictions for dangerous driving and assault. He will be sentenced in March.