Sydney man admits pushing gay American off a cliff in 1988

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Sydney man admits pushing gay American off a cliff in 1988

By ROD McGUIRK
May 2, 2022

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A man told police he killed American mathematician Scott Johnson in 1988 by pushing the 27-year-old off a Sydney cliff in what prosecutors describe as a gay hate crime, a court heard on Monday.

Scott White, 51, appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in January to the murder of the Los Angeles-born Canberra resident, whose death at the base of a North Head cliff was initially dismissed by police as suicide.

White will be sentenced by Justice Helen Wilson on Tuesday. He faces a potential sentence of life in prison.

-snip-

A coroner ruled in 2017 that Johnson “fell from the clifftop as a result of actual or threatened violence by unidentified persons who attacked him because they perceived him to be homosexual.”

The coroner also found that gangs of men roamed various Sydney locations in search of gay men to assault, resulting in the deaths of some victims. Some people were also robbed.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/crime-sydney-australia-suicides-canberra-a51e399863cf4d9467680de7d12b76dd

[The Unmitigated Gall]

1. Hope he gets life.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. i am so tired of these people who think they are judge , jury and executioner.

i wish i were a judge and be able to throw the book at them but i understand there is a decorum in the court room.

[sdfernando]

3. He should be pushed off the same cliff

If he survives he is free to go.

[llashram]

4. big men

in a crowd...get one like this murderer alone...they piss their pants. The bible gives clowns like this, with their RW leaders interpreting it, the justification to kill.

[jfz9580m]

5. What absolute creeps

I hope they throw the book at him and find the other people in those gangs..

[shenmue]

6. Why?

[lambchopp59]

7. PTSD

Local Bappy tists referred to this as "mercy killing". I suspect these weren't likely typical of that broader faith, but I wouldn't know. These were radicalized relatives and adherents to the Westboro murderers.
Local law enforcement swept these cases under the rug. I was targeted.

[Norton Nork]

8. *Perceived* him to be homosexual, see?

Just a reminder.
You don't have to be gay to be the target of an anti-gay hate crime.