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.

Mohamed Fathi Oanaw, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted Dec. 12, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s booking, St. George News
Mohamed Fathi Oanaw, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted Dec. 12, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s booking, St. George News

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.

Mayra Dinora Casas, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted Dec. 12, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s booking, St. George News
Mayra Dinora Casas, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted Dec. 12, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s booking, St. George News

“(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: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

 

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35 Comments

  • Rainbow Dash December 16, 2015 at 11:20 pm

    Why the constant references to the sexual orientation of the victim in this case? In my eyes, it doesn’t matter what his sexual orientation is, he is the victim of a violent crime; A crime that had that 3rd woman not stepped up and called the cops could have ended in serious injury or death to the victim. I realize that it played a part in why he was attacked but making repeated statements like ““Mohamed punched (the homosexual man) and knocked him back…” is totally unnecessary in my opinion and could easiy be changed to “the victim” or some such thing. If that mans wife and the roommate had gotten into a fight, and the roommate was fat, would you say “Casas punched (the fat woman) and knocked her back…..”? I sure hope not.

    • RealMcCoy December 17, 2015 at 10:51 am

      DIVERSITY!—-coming at you like a freight train, whether you like it or not!
      This is an interesting case, because it involved 2 of the “protected class” in America today, and by protected, I mean one cannot make a comment about them without getting some kind of backlash label like “bigot” or “racist”.
      You make a good point, Rainbow. Why was the muslim guy not referred to as a muslim attacker?
      Allow me to re-write this paragraph:
      “Mohamed (the muslim) punched the victim and knocked him back towards the kitchen while continuing to scream sexual slurs at him,” the arresting officer wrote in the statement. “The muslim Mohamed grabbed a chair to swing at the victim, but it was taken from him by (the third woman). Mayra was present and yelled slurs at (the man) while yelling for Mohamed the muslim to ‘get the fag.’”
      If we’re going to label, let’s use the right labels.

      • sagemoon December 18, 2015 at 8:40 am

        The attack was not based on religion but because of the victim’s sexual orientation. If the victim had been Muslim, I would expect to see the word Muslim several times throughout the article. There is not bias in this article, just facts.

        • RealMcCoy December 18, 2015 at 10:36 am

          My comment was satire.
          There was only one victim, therefore no reason to keep repeating the “homosexual” reference.

          • Much Ado December 18, 2015 at 1:02 pm

            There are five characters in this story and Miss Scott did a fine job keeping them straight with easy to follow descriptions. The entire focus of the story is about an attack on a homosexual man so that is absolutely necessary to include, and there is no “victim” until proven with a conviction in the court of law. Easy enough.

          • .... December 18, 2015 at 4:01 pm

            Either way you’re an idiot

          • RealMcCoy December 18, 2015 at 4:44 pm

            Much Ado- the victim is the man that was punched and had his phone destroyed by the muslim Mohamad. To say there is no “victim” unless proven with a conviction is incorrect.
            Follow that same logic, and there are suddenly very few rape “victims”, due to lack of convictions. I doubt a rape victim would agree with you, however.

    • sagemoon December 18, 2015 at 8:39 am

      I do think the references to the victim’s sexual orientation are appropriate because it is the reason why the attack was instigated. If someone assaulted a person for being obese, I would expect numerous references to obesity in the article, too.

  • SteveSGU December 16, 2015 at 11:39 pm

    We need to know where such criminals live, especially when they have bailed out of jail. But once again, your report gives a nonsensical description of the location. Please teach your reporters how to use Utah’s numbered addressing system. “The 1500 West block of 2100 West” means nothing. If the street is indeed 2100 West, then you would say “the 1500 block of North 2100 West.” There is no east and west on 2100 West, because the street runs north and south.

    • anybody home December 18, 2015 at 10:55 am

      Just name the d*** streets. Utah’s street number system is remarkably confusing.

      • .... December 18, 2015 at 3:59 pm

        So what’s your point stupid ?

  • Roger December 17, 2015 at 12:17 am

    Real well written article? I dare you to go where “Kimberly Scott” said that this event occurred. Please go to the corner of 1500 West and 2100 West. I would love to go there and picket until this Mohamed character is either deported or agrees to give openly gay individuals all the rights that the laws of Utah and our Constitution provide. The article states that he is a “Muslim” and it appears from the article that he is not following our laws but Sharia. One who follows Sharia believes that it is from “Allah” and that our laws and Constitution are from “man”, so that they are free to ignore our laws and Constitution and free to attack those who do not follow it. It appears that this is the reason why this attack happened. If this is found to be true in a court of law (NOT SHARIA), I call for this man to be punished and then deported. We don’t need his kind in southern Utah. Is Casas legal, or does she need to be punished and deported, too? If they are naturalized citizens, they took an oath to follow the constitution. They have broken this oath, and need their citizenship revoked as well.

  • .... December 17, 2015 at 5:15 am

    The fat ugly toothless one legged blind guy drove his ugly beat up car into an on coming used .dirty unwashed truck with a missing bumper . that is owned by a fat sausage chewing whino who has a 3 legged pit bull named ‘cup cake ‘ that he got from a Druid tree hugger named Rainbow.that lived next to a Ogre that lived under a bridge until it was eaten by a herd of rabid wild Gerbils. I hope this isn’t to graphic for you..LOL !

    • anybody home December 18, 2015 at 10:56 am

      And your point would be?

      • .... December 18, 2015 at 3:57 pm

        Your to stupid to understand.so go take a nap

  • CaliGirl December 17, 2015 at 7:41 am

    I love how Mohammad bailed out and left the wifey in jail to fend for herself. What a loser.

    • sagemoon December 18, 2015 at 8:43 am

      One must be legal and the other not. A convenience marriage to get one of them living in the U.S. which is why they don’t live together. I wonder if the legal party got paid well for this arrangement?

  • Terry December 17, 2015 at 9:24 am

    Is This Really News We Need To Read? JEEEEZZZZZ

  • sagemoon December 17, 2015 at 9:25 am

    What a couple of scum bags. Horrible people. It’s good at least one person present came to their senses and called for help. And what is the Mohamed guy saying about Muslims hate gays? Don’t Muslims enjoy the services of tea boys? Despicable.

  • NotSoFast December 17, 2015 at 2:15 pm

    Give the author a break. She needs pass stories to summit with her current resume. (i.e. Media Matters is looking for on scene reporters for the streets on the south side of Chicago for their up coming ‘Queers Matter Too ‘ DO DA parade).
    I thought she did a good job with this story.

  • ladybugavenger December 17, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    It’s obama’s fault.

    • .... December 18, 2015 at 3:56 pm

      go go Gadget Buckwheat face mask !

  • .... December 17, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    Wow I can’t use the term. The RealMcStupid…but it’s okay to call homosexuals …* ! Way to go St George news. Nothing like a little touch of ‘ double standards ‘ and preferential treatment to spice up your web site eh ? so its okay for me to use the term TheRealMc…*. ? But not the RealMcStupid ?
    Ed. ellipses: …*

    • Avatar photo Joyce Kuzmanic December 19, 2015 at 7:59 am

      See my reply to the RealMcCoy, ellipsis+1. 🙂 I think I will elide your Mc-epithet, with all due respect.
      ST. GEORGE NEWS
      Joyce Kuzmanic
      Editor in Chief

  • .... December 17, 2015 at 4:37 pm

    Merry Xmas to all them … out there
    Ed. ellipsis.

    • anybody home December 18, 2015 at 10:58 am

      You eat with that mouth?

      • .... December 18, 2015 at 3:52 pm

        Hey anybody home. Shut your mouth ! St George news approves of homosexuals being called …* ! …
        Ed. ellipsis: …*

      • .... December 18, 2015 at 10:30 pm

        Heck yeah I sure do !

  • Matthew December 18, 2015 at 9:52 am

    Why are they not being charged with hate crimes?

    • anybody home December 18, 2015 at 10:59 am

      Matthew – half the commenters here should be charged with hate crimes…Southern Utah is a nasty place to find oneself. Get out now.

    • .... December 18, 2015 at 11:04 am

      I get edited for using the word Stupid and then its ok to refer to homosexuals as Queers ! LOL ! Mormonism at its finest ! I got 10 bucks that’s says this gets edited also.

      • ladybugavenger December 18, 2015 at 1:14 pm

        donate the 10 bucks you just lost to the #ladybugavengerfundraiser

        • .... December 18, 2015 at 3:54 pm

          Not a chance ! Your kids are white…LOL go go Gadget phoney I.D

  • hottfuzz December 23, 2015 at 8:06 am

    I am not usually one to make a comment to a news story, however I am almost speechless at the reporting of this one. Both the victims sexual orientation and the alleged attacker’s religion are irrelevant for the purpose of the article. It appears the reporter read the police statements and copied them verbatim, while adding “homosexual man” when deemed necessary. A tip for the reporter….. Sometimes vagueness is appropriate. 🙂

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