This is a complicated story so please bare with me! There are 6 people involved: my friend (male, 40), his boyfriend (male, 35), their 2 friends (males, 30s), my friend's tenant (25, female), and her friend (24, female).

So my friend and his boyfriend have been renting out their spare room through Airbnb for a while, and last year they rented it out to this girl who was studying in our city. They ended up becoming close and my friend and his boyfriend decided to let her stay for a year. They always complained that she's messy, which I wasn't surprised about as they love cleaning and have things in a certain way. Nevertheless, they wanted to help her "grow up". They would even go clubbing with her (all three are into techno & party drugs, so it made sense), they met each other's families and generally were supportive of each other. I've seen all of them on alcohol & drugs and they've always been super mellow, never hinted of any aggression or animosity.

Once her year was up she went home and after 6 months came back for her masters. She ended up renting with them again, which was meant to be another year. My friends initially talked highly of her as she was becoming more "mature", but I noticed they still poked fun at her for partying too much, even though they go clubbing and do drugs as well (granted maybe not every weekend).

In the last month I have started talking to her 1-1 and she told me about how many restrictions she has in the house lately (in terms of being organised and who can visit her) which I believed. She's also told me how they've been quite rude to her, which I always thought it was banter as my friend is more of a "tough love" kind of guy, but she said it's been getting more aggressive & hurtful, which I believed again as I've seen him have a go at her for no reason. Finally she decided to sit them down and tell them how she felt and that she will be moving out, which apparently did not go well (I don't know the details) and she spent the night at her friend's. She then returned the next day with her girl friend to pack her stuff, when things escalated massively.

I spoke to her first and she was messaging a bit chaotically and she also shared pictures of scratches on her which really alarmed me. She said she texted them that she's coming to pack her stuff, they asked for their key while she was still taking stuff out, she said she will give it once she's done taking everything out, and then my friend physically stopped her from leaving the house and grabbed her by the throat and trashed her around. She said she fought back, and then called the police.

I was baffled and never expected something like this from them, so I messaged my friends to ask what's been going on. They started off by accusing me of not sharing my opinion with them of how they've been treating her (because I've been empathising with her on how she's been feeling) which apparently was hurtful to them, and proceeded to say I've been influenced by her games/lies. My friend's explanation about was that they kicked her out over drug use, and that she assaulted them verbally and physically. I questioned how a girl half their age could assault 2 built guys (while 2 of their male friends were in the house as well) and my friend's boyfriend said they stopped her from leaving the house because she still had the keys, and that's when she attacked them resulting in scratches on everyone. They also said they were the ones who called the police and told them she was on drugs and aggressive (which she says the cops tested her for drugs and it was negative). Both sides said they are pressing charges.

Regardless of who was aggressive first, I don't think they should've tried stopping her from leaving the house even if she refused to return the keys. But my friends think I'm wrong for believing her and doubting them. AITA?