Despite being accused of a brutal hate crime that left a gay man blind, Inna Makarenko wants people to know that she and her family are the actual victims. All she wanted was for her son, Oleh, to marry a woman.
But Oleh was dating the victim. Believing the man “turned” their son gay, they went to his apartment and beat him so viciously he’ll never be able to see again.
Makarenko, her husband, and their son have been accused of attacking the victim while Oleh stood by and watched.
The victim, 31, has asked that his name not be revealed.
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The family found out about the relationship between Oleh and the victim in July 2021, the victim told police, and “his father was treating him poorly and not accepting him, and his mother was forcing him to marry a woman.”
The victim said that a few weeks later, Oleh asked for his address, even though Oleh would often stay at his place and even had a key to it.
At 1 a.m., he went to open the gate, and he saw Oleh and the Makarenko family, who he had seen in pictures. Father Yevhen and brother Pavel Makarenko started to beat the victim while Oleh and Inna Makarenko watched.
The victim told Inna Makarenko, “Unfortunately your son is gay,” and then one of the family members allegedly grabbed an unknown object and hit the victim’s face.
“After falling to the floor, he pretended to be dead so they would believe he was dead and stop beating him,” the police report says.
Police found him unconscious with blood surrounding him on the floor during a visit to the apartment complex for other reasons, 14 hours after the attack. Police noted that his door was still open and that his property had been damaged as well.
It took the victim six months to get his memories of the events back and that’s when police were able to arrest the family. But the victim will not get his eyesight back.
The Makarenkos’ attorney said that they “had nothing whatsoever to do with the apparently awful injuries the gentleman sustained.”
The entire family is facing counts of first-degree attempted murder, burglary with battery, and kidnapping. All the family members are facing hate crimes enhancements as well. She was recently released from jail to await trial after four months behind bars.
But Makarenko insists that “the victim is only me and my family.” She now says that she has never met the victim and has no animosity toward LGBTQ people.
“I can’t understand why he lied,” she told local news. “I never could understand how people could lie so easily.”
When detectives asked her about the family’s beliefs about gay people, she responded that “we love everyone. We are Christian.”
