The older teen was waiting for the boy at the latter's home when the group turned up to confront him. On Jan 5 this year, the victim told his senior school mates about his ordeal and they decided to confront the offender. They frequently hanged out at the younger boy's home.īut the older teen started molesting the boy later that year. He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect his victims' identities.ĭeputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai told the court that the offender first met the 13-year-old boy at a school camp in January last year, but lost contact with him and reconnected at a barbecue event seven months later. On Monday (Dec 17), the offender, now 18, pleaded guilty to one count each of molestation and sexual exploitation of a child.
This time, however, the teen was caught after the child's mother came across the text messages that he had sent to her son. He repeatedly harassed the child to send nude pictures of himself but was rejected. The older teen, who was 17 at the time, molested him frequently by grabbing his private parts.ĭespite being confronted by the victim's friends, the offender managed to get away.Īnd he soon set his sight on a second victim - a 10-year-old boy. Tony Romeo tends to overprice tours, example, quoted a day trip to Halong Bay, based on sit in tour with another company, at USD 120, however, such tours are only going at USD 38.A teenager befriended a 13-year-old from his secondary school and started hanging out with the younger boy.īut their meet-ups soon turned into nightmare for the boy.
Little is done to orientate you or to point out landmarks while you make your way on the messy tour with Tony Romeo.
The so called secret places to eat that he introduces have already been featured on so many travel bloggers website with instructions on how to get there, example, Dinh cafe which served excellent egg coffee. Really bad experience with this so called local tour guide called Tony Romeo in Hanoi, whose real name should be Nguyen Dung!įirst, his tours are conducted in a very messy manner, you find yourself darting from place to place within the Old Quarters in a complete mess trying the food, which he does not explain. Hope this can be shared with others who might want to book Gay Hanoi Tours in Vietnam! Sharing this bad experience with a local tour guide called Tony Romeo in Hanoi!
Also, there have been various notable LGBTQ Vietnamese movies made, such as “Madam Phung's Last Journey” in 2014, “Finding Phong” in 2017, and the “My Best Gay Friends” YouTube series in 2013, which went viral: For example, the former USA Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius is openly gay and was not shy about posing with his husband and baby. We even have a growing gay scene in Saigon and Hanoi.Īlso, more visibility of successful LGBTQ persons in the media helps society see us as something normal and positive rather than as something wrong or an illness. Today, of course, all that has changed, especially with the advent of Grindr and all the other gay dating apps over the past decade. At best, gay guys would seek each other out via well-known cruising spots or by friends of friends. Back in those days, the Internet as we know it today simply didn't exist and there were no queer hangouts around. It was quite hard when I was younger because traditional Catholic Vietnamese society was not always so open and supportive toward gays. “you better clean up your room if you wanna find a good husband!!” What's it like growing up gay in Vietnam? She's always been accepting of me being gay and we always make jokes about finding husbands.
For example, she now worries about me growing old alone without anyone to care for me in my old age. I think my mother, her main concern is my safety well-being and most of all my happiness in life.