Steve Johnson with his sisters, Terry, left, and Rebecca and his wife Rosemarie, second right, arrive at the High Court in Sydney on Monday for sentencing hearings in the murder of Scott Johnson – the brother of Scott Johnson. Steve, Terry and Rebecca.
Rick Rycroft / AP
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Rick Rycroft / AP
Steve Johnson with his sisters, Terry, left, and Rebecca and his wife Rosemarie, second right, arrive at the High Court in Sydney on Monday for sentencing hearings in the murder of Scott Johnson – the brother of Scott Johnson. Steve, Terry and Rebecca.
Rick Rycroft / AP
CANBERRA, Australia – A man told police he killed American mathematician Scott Johnson in 1988 by pushing the 27-year-old off a cliff in Sydney in what prosecutors describe is a homophobic hate crime, a court heard Monday.
Scott White, 51, appeared at New South Wales Supreme Court for sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in January to the murder of a Los Angeles-born Canberra resident, whose death was in… The original North Head cliff foot was disproved. police like suicide.
White will be sentenced by Helen Wilson Court on Tuesday. He faces possible life in prison.
White said in an interview with police in 2020 that was held in court in 2020.
White said in the interview that he lied when he previously told police he tried to grab Johnson and prevent his deadly fall.
A coroner ruled in 2017 that Johnson “fell from the top of a mountain as a result of actual violence or was threatened by unidentified people who attacked him because they assumed he was a coroner.” affection.”
The coroner also discovered that gangs of men roamed various locations in Sydney looking for gay men to assault, resulting in the deaths of several victims. Some were also robbed.
One coroner ruled in 1989 that the openly gay man took his own life, while a second coroner in 2012 could not explain how he died.
His Boston-based brother Steve Johnson has maintained pressure for further investigation and is offering his own reward of AU$1 million ($704,000) for information. White was charged in 2020, and police said a reward will likely be collected.
White’s ex-wife, Helen White, testified in court that her then-husband had “bragged” to their children about beating gay men on top of a cliff famous for gay encounters.
Helen White said she read a report in 2008 about Johnson’s death and asked her husband if he was responsible.
“It’s not my fault,” Scott White is said to have responded. “The dumb (with all his might) ran off the cliff.”
“I said, ‘That’s if you go after him,'” Helen White told the court. She said her husband did not answer.
After cross-examination, Helen White denied she knew about the A$1 million reward for information about Johnson’s murder when she reported her ex-husband to the police in 2019. She said she only learned of the reward when the victim’s brother, Steve Johnson. , double the total by 2020.
Steve Johnson said in his victim impact statement that, “With a vicious push, Mr. White caught Scott and he disappeared.”
“This man (Scott Johnson) who once told me he could never hurt someone even in self-defense died in horror,” the brother added.
Steve Johnson said he appreciated White’s plea.
“If he had turned around after his violent actions, I would have been a little more sympathetic. If he had grabbed Scott’s hand and pulled him to safety, I would owe him eternal gratitude. forever,” the brother said, his voice choking with emotion. .
Scott Johnson’s sisters Terry and Rebecca Johnson, his partner Michael Noone and Steve Johnson’s wife Rosemarie Johnson also released victim impact statements.
Rosemarie Johnson described the police’s initial failure to investigate Scott Johnson’s death as “irreparable and inhumane.”
Rebecca Johnson, a sister, said the police report of the suicide “makes no sense.”
“How can a community fail so spectacularly to produce boys with such horror abilities?” she asked, referring to media reports of gay beating in Sydney as described as a sport.
Prosecutor Brett Hatfield said the exact details of the murder were not known and that White’s accounts had changed.
White met Johnson in a nearby bar on the outskirts of Manly, and Johnson was naked on top of the cliff before he died, Hatfield said. He said the severity of the murder had increased dramatically because it was motivated by the victim’s sexuality.
White’s attorney, Belinda Rigg, said her client was gay and was concerned her gay brother would find out.
In January, White repeatedly shouted in court during his pre-trial hearing that he was guilty, having previously denied the crime.
His lawyers will appeal that plea in the Court of Criminal Appeal and hope he will be acquitted at trial.
Scott Johnson is a PhD student at the Australian National University and lives in Canberra. He was staying at Noone’s parents’ home in Sydney when he passed away.
