A gay man in Australia was bashed over the head repeatedly with a bike chain in a violent hate crime that saw his sister hit in the face when she tried to come to his defense.

Bradley Skinner and his sister Amanda were having dinner at a bowling club in Mackay, Queensland, when a stranger walked and called him "faggot."

"I was two bites into my pizza around when this young man I had never seen before slowly walked past us glaring at me," Bradley, 25, told The Daily Mail. "Then he called me a faggot as I looked up at him. I only assume he called me one or knew I'm a homosexual because we were sitting laughing having a good time."

Having heard slurs before, Bradley tried to ignore it. But when Amanda stood up to address the man, he punched her and pulled out a bike chain. "I kept trying to grab it and cover my face while he was swinging it at me," says Bradley. The man punched him, then repeatedly hit him with the chain.

"He started pelting me with it over and over again," he recalled. "He hit me from my upper legs up to my head. I kept trying to grab it and cover my face while he was swinging it at me. Once he hit me on the head for the last time, that's when I fell to the ground. I don't remember too much from then on."

He was taken to the hospital with sever bruising and cuts to his head.

"I couldn't open my eyes but I could hear so much yelling and screaming, I remember my stomach dry retching trying to vomit. Then I was thrown on my side so I didn't choke, I imagine."

Bradley was released after a day in the hospital, but still suffers from dizzy spells and was forced to take three weeks off work for rehabilitation. Amanda calls seeing her brother lying on the ground the most traumatic experience of her life. "I was so upset—I thought he was dead."

Queensland Police have reportedly spoken to the suspect, a man in his 20s, though no charges have been filed yet. Bradley, who's been attacked for his sexuality before has no doubt the assault was a hate crime.

"It makes me paranoid to go to work surrounded by men, thinking they are all out to get me," he tells the Mail. "Going out to have a good night, I'm always unsure what's around the corner."