GUILTY Australia - Scott Johnson, 27, American, murdered, Manly, NSW, 10 Dec 1988 *ARREST in 2020*

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Bohemian

Bohemian

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Scott Johnson died as a victim of a gay hate crime, third coronial inquest finds
The Sydney Morning Herald
Lucy Cormack
30 mins ago (as at 16:20 AEDT 30 November 2017)

attachment.php

The last family photo of Scott Johnson, who died in 1988. Photo: NSW Police

‘An extraordinary third coronial inquest into the death of Scott Johnson has found the young mathematician died as a result of a gay hate crime when he fell from a cliff top in December 1988.

Mr Johnson's naked body was found on the rocks near the ocean, just north of Blue Fish Point on North Head. His clothes were found neatly folded on the clifftop.

At the time police swiftly determined death by suicide, with no witnesses to have come forward since.

On Thursday, NSW Coroner Michael Barnes determined the area above the rocks where Mr Johnson's body was found was at the time a "gay beat".

He determined that "Scott had none of the characteristics usually associated with suicide".

"The evidence establishes that at the relevant time there were gangs of men who habitually went to various locations around Sydney where they expected to find homosexual men with a view to assaulting them," Mr Barnes found.‘

‘In a statement NSW Police Force said the Homicide Squad's Strike Force Macnamir had conducted an exhaustive investigation into Mr Johnson's death over the past four years.

"While the Coroner has not made a recommendation for further investigation, we understand the frustration of Mr Johnson's family, who have sought the answers to his death," the statement said, adding that the case remained open and that any new information would be thoroughly investigated.’

Read more at:

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/scott-joh...d-coronial-inquest-finds-20171130-gzvpmq.html

Related:

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/scott-johnson-inquest-gay-bashing-bait-to-testify-20161212-gt9pkh.html

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/skinhead-...-time-scott-johnson-died-20170619-gwu4ky.html

http://www.smh.com.au/national/layi...-behind-a-27year-mystery-20151118-gl1pql.html

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/coroner-t...investigation-inadequate-20170624-gwxt4s.html
 
Scott Johnson: Inside one brother's 30-year fight to find the truth
ABC News
BY BELLINDA KONTOMINAS
UPDATED 57 MINUTES AGO (as at 16:30 AEDT 30 November 2017)

‘When Scott Johnson's body was found naked at the bottom of a cliff at North Head in 1988, it sparked a 29-year case that would result in two police investigations, three coronial inquests and relentless lobbying by a brother who never gave up on his fight for the truth.

State Coroner Michael Barnes today found that Mr Johnson's death was the result of a gay hate attack, and that he was either pushed or fell to his death while trying to escape.

The findings are a vindication to Steve Johnson, who, over almost three decades, has reportedly spent up to $1 million on an investigator to prove his younger brother's death was the result of foul play.’

Read more at:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-...side-brothers-fight-to-find-the-truth/9211466
 
I just read an excellent book on Steve Johnson fight to have Scott’s death determined to be as a result of foul play and the related gay hate bashing’s and murders in Sydney. Well worth a read.

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER
By Duncan McNab

Sydney's shame: Up to 80 men murdered, 30 cases remain unsolved.

‘From 1977 to the end of 1986, Duncan McNab was a member of the NSW Police Force. Most of his service was in criminal investigation. The many unsolved deaths and disappearances of young gay men are the crimes that continue to haunt him.

Around 80 men died or disappeared in NSW from the late 70s to early 90s during an epidemic of gay-hate crimes. The line between a vicious assault and murder is a slender one and this was a time of brutal attacks on gay men, featuring gangs of young thugs like the 'Parkside Killers' and 'Bondi Boys', who took to the growing gay rights community with fists and feet.

Even more troubling are incidents in which gay men disappeared and have never been found, or where deaths were initially dismissed by the NSW Police as either misadventure or suicide. We now know that a number of these men were hunted down by gangs and thrown over beachside cliffs near the nation’s top tourist spots.

Investigation of crimes against gay men wasn’t always high on the list of priorities for the police and over twenty years later they are still slow to come to grips with their own dismal track record. The families of the victims, and some journalists, have not given up and continue to push the NSW Police Force for more answers.

This book is the story of a unique time in our history when social change, politics, devastating disease and police culture collided, and you could get away with murder.’

Getting Away With Murder by Duncan McNab
 
Posted 9 March 2020

Scott Johnson reward for information doubles to $2 million as brother makes personal offer

The brother of Scott Johnson, who died near Sydney's North Head more than 30 years ago, has doubled the police reward for new information about the death, with a total of $2 million now on offer.
Scott Johnson's naked body was found at the base of a cliff at Blue Fish Point in December 1988.
The American-born mathematician was 27 at the time.
The third inquest into his death found he was the victim of a gay hate crime and fell off the cliff as a result of actual or threatened violence.

Scott Johnson reward for information doubles to $2 million as brother makes personal offer - ABC News
 
The brother of a man charged with the 1988 'gay hate' murder of an American maths genius has revealed he too was interviewed by police - but is adamant they are both innocent.

Scott Phillip White was arrested on Tuesday morning and charged with killing Scott Johnson, a 27-year-old PhD student who moved from California to Australia to study.

Mr Johnson's naked body was found at the base of cliffs at Blue Fish Point, near Manly's north head on Sydney's northern beaches, on December 10, 1988.

Strike Force Welsford detectives swooped on White's unit at Lane Cove, on Sydney's lower north shore, early on Tuesday before charging him with one count of murder.

Scott Johnson death: Man charged with murder is 'innocent', brother says | Daily Mail Online
 
I just read the inquest findings that were helpfully linked above in 2017 by OP @Bohemian, thank you. Scott sure had a great brain on him, what a terrible loss not only for his loved ones but for society generally. The impending court case will be fascinating to follow.
 
Orange2 said:
He was a 27 year old gay American man who died way back in 1988. His death was originally ruled a suicide.

Scott Price, now 49, was recently arrested. Authorities believe it was a hate crime.
Australian charged 32 years after gay hate killing
Click to expand...

From the article:

It's now estimated up to 80 gay men were murdered by homophobic gangs in and around Sydney in the late 1980s - with many pushed off cliffs.

Mr Johnson said he hoped the arrest "opens the door" for others to receive justice.

"I hope the family and friends of the other dozens of gay men who lost their lives find solace in what's happened today," he said.

Absolutely horrifying, though perhaps horrifyingly unsurprising to many who suffered at the hands of these gangs and within a larger systemic homophobia that seemed to reign pretty much unchecked at times. I wonder how many of those cases have been/will be investigated further following this arrest.
 
Jan 2022
Scott Johnson: Man confesses to 1988 gay hate murder - BBC News
GE SOURCE,STEVE JOHNSON
Image caption,
Scott came to Australia in 1986 from the US

_104802509_scottcrop1.jpg
IMAGE SOURCE,STEVE JOHNSON
Image caption,
Steve (left) has spent more than 30 years trying to find out the truth about his brother Scott's death
A man has finally confessed to the murder of Cambridge University graduate Scott Johnson after more than 30 years.

The 27-year-old's naked body was found at the bottom of North Head cliffs, a well known gay cruising ground in Sydney, Australia, back in 1988.

At the time, his death was ruled as suicide - something his family never believed.

Scott White was arrested and charged in 2020, and this week unexpectedly pleaded guilty at a pre-trial hearing.

His lawyers attempted to have the admission withdrawn, arguing that White, 50, was not mentally fit.

But on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge rejected that motion, writing the plea was entered "in a loud clear voice, and in an emphatic and determined manner".

"The gay community were second class citizens. They weren't well protected," Steve said.

"The gangs would attack these cruising areas because they knew the police wouldn't come after them.They also knew that the gay community were afraid of the police, so they wouldn't come and report the crimes."

Steve described Scott, who was a maths PhD student, as "one of the most gifted of his generation".

He added his brother was a "proud" gay man, as well as his best friend''
 
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