A vlent slice of Sydney's history was dredged up this week when police charged a man over the 1988 gay hate murr of Stt Johnson. Here are four siar killgs that rema unsolved.
Contents:
- NSW QUIRY TO VTIGATE 40 YEARS OF UNSOLVED SYDNEY GAY HATE ATHS
- NSW ERNMENT ANNOUNC QUIRY TO SYDNEY'S UNSOLVED GAY AND TRANSGENR HATE CRIM, MURRS
- DEEP WATER: WERE 30 UNSOLVED SYDNEY ATHS REALLY GAY HATE CRIM?
- HOW THE 1988 GAY HATE CRIME MURR OF STT JOHNSON SYDNEY WAS ROLVED
- STT JOHNSON: GAY US STUNT'S KILLER JAILED SYDNEY AFTER 30 YEARS
- FOUR OTHER GAY-HATE CRIM BEG VTIGATED BY NSW POLICE AFTER STT JOHNSON MURR CHARGE
- ATRALIAN MAN IS CONVICTED OF KILLG GAY AMERIN 1980S
- NSW POLICE LOSE URT BID TO EXCLU STT JOHNSON KILLG OM GAY HATE QUIRY
- BONDI RISE MEMORIAL HONOURS VICTIMS OF SYDNEY GAY HATE CRIM DURG 1970S TO 1990S
- SYDNEY MAN GETS 12 YEARS FOR MURRG GAY AMERIN 1988
- WHEN GANGS KILLED GAY MEN FOR SPORT: ATRALIA REVIEWS 88 DEATHS
- SYDNEY MURR NVICTN FOR GAY AMERIN’S ATH OVERTURNED
- INVTIGATN REVEALED EVIL AND VLENCE DIRECTED AT GAY MEN ACROSS SYDNEY
- AN ATRALIAN MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MANSLGHTER ATH OF A GAY AMERIN 1988
- ATRALIAN QUIRY PROB 40 YEARS OF GAY HATE KILLGS
- FALLY ABLE TO BE HIMSELF, KRCHIKORN BEME VICTIM OF SYDNEY’S GAY HATE MURRS
NSW QUIRY TO VTIGATE 40 YEARS OF UNSOLVED SYDNEY GAY HATE ATHS
A Supreme Court judge has been selected to vtigate the e and manner of 88 spected gay hate aths Sydney to give fai answers and close a dark chapter the state's history. * gay murders sydney *
NSW Premier Domic Perrottet has announced the most extensive quiry to dozens of Sydney gay hate aths that have gone unsolved some s for more than half a pots:Gay hate crim were rampant durg the 1980s and 1990s SydneyA parliamentary mtee prevly found police failed to vtigate many spected gay hate murrsThe upg quiry will have signifint powers, cludg the summong of wnsThe special missn of quiry will be led by Supreme Court judge John Sackar and will vtigate 88 unsolved murrs mted agast LGBTQI people om 1970 to is thought the quiry may lead to new evince beg unvered or brg prevly unreported crim to light.
A spate of btal bashgs and murrs Sydney brought terror to the LGBTQI muny for s and police were often not terted vtigatg the gangs targeted gay men parks and toilets, and victims were often found at the bottom of such se was the murr of Amerin mathematician Stt Johnson, who was found ad at the base of a cliff near Manly's North Head.
NSW ERNMENT ANNOUNC QUIRY TO SYDNEY'S UNSOLVED GAY AND TRANSGENR HATE CRIM, MURRS
The NSW ernment announc long-awaed quiry lookg at historil "grave jtic" mted agast Sydney's gay muny. * gay murders sydney *
The NSW ernment has announced an quiry to btal hat crim mted agast members of Sydney's gay muny over 40 pots:The quiry will have the power to pel wns to prent evinceLiberal MP and gay man Shayne Mallard said was an emotnal dayHe said there was evince of at least 88 gay and transgenr murrsIn July 1989, 25-year-old newsrear Ross Warren disappeared om Sydney's eastern r had been parked on a street near the popular gay beat Marks Park, and his keys were found at the bottom of a cliff closed his se jt three weeks later, whout lotg his is spected to be among the dozens of men murred Sydney through the 1980s and will form the basis of a judicial quiry announced by the NSW ernment on Wednday. "Details about the ntent of the quiry, cludg s terms of reference, are yet to be month a memorial was unveiled at Marks Park Tamarama, the se of many spected murrs, to acknowledge and honour the victims of gay hate 4 Nov 2021Thu 4 Nov 2021 at 1:20am, updated 4 Nov 2021Thu 4 Nov 2021 at 3:29am.
DEEP WATER: WERE 30 UNSOLVED SYDNEY ATHS REALLY GAY HATE CRIM?
The mystery surroundg the gay hate crime murr of Stt Johnson has been one of Atralia's most puzzlg and emotnally charged. * gay murders sydney *
In 2012 the New South Wal puty state roner Carmel Forb overturned the suici fdg but uld not terme how he police have formed Operatn Parrabell, a team of eight tectiv who will apply an FBI measure of hate bias – creria to terme if a crime is motivated by bias agast, for stance, sexual orientatn – to see if as many as 88 Sydney aths datg om the 1970s onward, cludg 30 unsolved s, were gay hate s were marked suici or e unknown, but past police nclns are now beg lled to qutn. A new SBS vtigatn has unvered “ser mistak” were ma the ial vtigatns, cludg the misspellg of one ad man’s Johnson tells Guardian Atralia that applyg the FBI hate bias creria is unlikely to unver gay hate crim bee the strgent checklist requir s to be solved, perpetrators to be intified and their hatred of victims to be proclaimed. Shawn Seet, the director of the ld Canberra polil drama The Co, is at the the prent day, fictnal Detective Senr Constable Tori Ltigman, played by Yael Stone of Orange Is the New Black, her own DNA to see if match DNA found on a piece of lead pipg, which she spects may be her gay brother’s.
HOW THE 1988 GAY HATE CRIME MURR OF STT JOHNSON SYDNEY WAS ROLVED
The NSW Police Force has admted s officers may have ma ser mistak while re-examg potential gay-hate murrs among a list of 30 unsolved aths. An SBS vtigatn has unvered a failure by police to check even basic tails for some of the men, rultg an erroneo asssment beg provid to NSW State Coroner Michael Barn. For the first time, each of the 30 s is explaed tail this SBS teractive. But some of the s would have amounted to a few l if SBS had relied on what police managed to unver. * gay murders sydney *
Photograph: Sean O'Reilly/SBSThe ‘gay ATM’It was not until 2005, 17 years after Stt Johnson’s ath, that Steve realised his beloved brother might have died vlently: he had been sent a clippg about the vlent aths of three other gay men year the NSW senr puty state roner Jacquele Milledge found that the televisn newsrear Ross Warren, 25, and barman John Rsell, 31, had been murred two separate attacks 1989, most probably thrown off a cliff at Bondi’s Marks Park, which was known as a gay beat. His brother says this was an implsible ncln: many gay men have told his vtigatn that the area had been a popular beat sce the 1960s but gay men were often too sred to report asslts bee “police treated them like perpetrators, not victims”’s vtigatn also clud terviewg former gay-bashg gang members, who had sentially operated wh impuny bee there was still a “lot of hatred towards gays”, he says. Detectiv arrted Whe at his Lane Cove home on Sydney's north shore May 2020 and charged him wh wasn't known to police before an rmant me forward wh rmatn, but tectiv said he wasn't surprised when police knocked on his years earlier, the NSW ernment had announced a $1 ln reward for rmatn that lead to the arrt and nvictn of Mr Johnson's 2020, his brother Steve Johnson doubled the reward by makg a personal ntributn of $1 ln — the first of s kd reward and last year's arrt followed two police vtigatns and three ronial first, 1989, found Mr Johnson mted suici — somethg his brother and fay had always open fdg was returned the June 2012 qut and wasn't until 2017 that then-roner Michael Barn led the ath was the rult of a gay hate Force Welsford was set up soon after by NSW Police, led by Detective Chief Inspector Peter said police had fought long and hard to break through a wall of silence volvg two groups wh rmatn – those who were volved the attack and those who were told.
(Supplied: NSW Police)Durg the fal qut, was also unvered how police failed to vtigate many gay hate crim that took place Sydney over s, spe many 2017 qut heard that a group of Narrabeen skheads had bragged about assltg an "Amerin faggot" around the same time Mr Johnson had qut was also told that soldiers at the Army School of Artillery at North Head ed to brag about attackg gay men and nsired "fun and gam". Image source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Stt Johnson (pictured) was killed 1988Three s after US man Stt Johnson's body was found at the base of cliffs Sydney, his killer has been sentenced to Whe was on Tuday sentenced to a maximum 12 years and seven months jail for the then-27-year-old's the time, the Cambridge Universy graduate's ath was led as suici - somethg his fay never had for years fought for Atralian police to vtigate as a gay hate crime stead.
He will be eligible for parole - who was 18 at the time of the murr - did not give evince urt but had told police he and Johnson had met at a bar December urt heard the pair had gone to North Head cliffs Manly - a well-known gay cisg ground - where, acrdg to Whe, they got to a fight and Dr Johnson a judge found he had stck Dr Johnson whout provotn, knowg would most likely e the mathematician to fall to his had acted wh "reckls difference to human life", Jtice Helen Wilson told the New South Wal Supreme Court. On both ocsns police found nothg to nvce them Dr Johnson hadn't taken his own November 2017, a roner led he had been murred by a gay hate gang, which led to the new offered a A$1m (£570, 000; $645, 000) sh reward 2018 for rmatn about the se, and 2020 the fay doubled the reward to A$'s ex-wife me forward 2019 after hearg about the se, tellg police the man had often bragged about "bashg" young gay men and had not nied killg Dr Johnson when she had also ma admissns to police officers before he was charged police force has prevly apologised to the fay for not vtigatg the se properly the 1980s and failg to protect the gay may also be terted :Media ptn, How Atralia's first gay imam is 'savg liv'More on this story. It's a vlent slice of Sydney history — gay men beaten parks, hurled off cliffs or vanishg om the cy's streets s barely probed by horrific crim were dredged up aga this week when police charged a man over the 1988 murr of Stt 27-year-old's ath was the most high-profile gay hate attack Harbour Cy events that lead to his smashed body beg found at the base of cliffs near North Head were examed three ronial quts.
STT JOHNSON: GAY US STUNT'S KILLER JAILED SYDNEY AFTER 30 YEARS
A Sydney man murred the Cambridge Universy graduate at a gay cisg ground 1988. * gay murders sydney *
(Supplied: Johnson fay)NSW Police Mister David Elltt this week nced " was a time where people were slightly dismissive of hate crim and where was too easy to make exc or to move on" are four other gay murrs that fell through the cracks the late Warren Ross Warren, a news prenter om Wollongong, was last seen at Darlghurst 1989.
FOUR OTHER GAY-HATE CRIM BEG VTIGATED BY NSW POLICE AFTER STT JOHNSON MURR CHARGE
* gay murders sydney *
His body was never 2005, then-puty roner Jacquele Milledge characterised the vtigatn as "grossly aquate and shameful" and said Warren was "a victim of homici" year, the NSW Upper Hoe mtee quirg to gay and transgenr hate crim between 1970 and 2010 received evince police officers lookg to Warren's disappearance chose to "sile" the mtee heard that 2001, former NSW Police Detective Sergeant Steve Page found major issu wh the way Warren's se was Detective Sergeant would go on to form Strike Force Taradale, which intified lks between Warren's spected murr and many other gay killgs.
(Supplied)Raymond Frerick Keam's body was found lyg the grass at the northern end of Alison Park Randwick on January 13, 44-year-old father-of-two, who had a black belt karate, was beaten to right troer pocket was pulled out and the glove box and boot of his r, parked 40 metr away, were ransacked, their ntents strewn around the said the Alison Park public toilets were a well-known gay beat and men who were perceived to be gay were often the victims of ser asslts and robberi the time, the ma spect was a man who intified as gay and lived oppose the park where Keam was found. William AllenWilliam Allen was found ad his Newton Street home on December 29, 1988 wh several head juri which he staed the prev eveng Alexandria was driven by a passg motorist who spotted him wh blood over his hands and retired school teacher, who worked at Newgton College, said he was bashed and kicked to the ground by "a uple of Aborigal boys" who then took his keys and the time of his murr, he was unr vtigatn for cultivatg and sellg nnabis to young mal for sex and was known to equent a gay beat at Alexandria were no clear spects, but NSW Police noted the circumstanc around his ath were siar to the later murr of Richard Johnson 1990, which led to the nvictn of the "Alexandria Eight", who bashed him to retrospectively vtigated the eight offenrs — aged 16 to 18 — but did not have enough evince to charge anyone wh Allen's murr. Former Atralian officials have said the police at that time were often hostile toward gay men and did not properly vtigate their Johnson hired an vtigative journalist to look to his brother’s se after he beme aware of a 2005 qut to the aths of three men om the same perd unr siar circumstanc.
A bid by New South Wal police to exclu a high-profile killg om a gay hate quiry has been ath of US mathematician Stt Johnson is one of dozens of s unr the spotlight at a special missn of quiry to spected gay hate crim Sydney between 1970 and 27-year-old died after he was punched at a gay beat on Sydney’s northern beach.
ATRALIAN MAN IS CONVICTED OF KILLG GAY AMERIN 1980S
If you were a gay man Sydney durg the 1970s to 1990s, there was a chance you uld get beaten up or killed, Garry Wotherspoon says. A memorial to the victims now stands on the eastern suburbs se where many of the acts of vlence took place. * gay murders sydney *
In the latt velopment, Stt Phillip Whe plead guilty to throwg the punch that ultimately ed Johnson to fall to his month, jtice Robert Beech-Jon dismissed “what appears to be an absurd suggtn [by police] that Dr Johnson killed himself” when sentencg Whe to ne years past newsletter promotnafter newsletter promotnNSW police had argued Johnson’s ath was outsi the current quiry’s terms of reference on the basis the matter was not unsolved, the man rponsible for his ath intified as gay and a sentencg judge did not fd the ath to be motivated by gay the quiry’s missner, jtice John Sackar, on Tuday led s terms of reference were much wir and answers to qutns such as how and why Johnson died were still not urt did not make a fdg beyond reasonable doubt that Whe was motivated by gay hate, but did not le out the possibily, he is due to hand down his fal report next month. Gangs like the Bondi Boys (otherwise known by their graffi tag PTK, or People that Kill) would prowl here, rryg out brazen acts of vlence; ’s likely that at least a few were serial offenrs; perpetrators of an anti-gay murr spree that swept across Sydney at the is no simple whodunn; volv a tangled tale of hate crim volvg multiple spects, gangs prisg up to 30 members, some of whom circulated among other gangs across Sydney, posg a dark mosaic of murr.
This is a lot more than n be said for the other men killed here, or for that matter, the vast majory of other murrs of gay men blightg Sydney at the a year to the day earlier, on another eezg night July 1989, Ross Warren, a handsome, charismatic weatherman and newsrear om WIN-TV Wollongong, vanished on this headland the early hours of a Saturday morng. Activists splattered red pat over 11 cy buildgs, cludg state parliament, the Downg Centre urt plex, and the headquarters of Channel 10 and The Sydney Morng Herald, then loted Jon Street, class were sprgg up ner-cy gyms and muny groups, and a group of gay volunteers – some of them former members of the army, navy and police force – began foot patrols along Oxford Street and Darlghurst Street foot patrol RtersStill, the murrs ntued. In May, one of their own, social science teacher Wayne Tonks, was murred his Artarmon apartment by two young men (not his stunts) was outrage when the so-lled gay panic fence, a cel wrkle the law that enabled killers to claim an alleged sexual advance provoked them to a murro rage, was ed the murr trial of Christopher McKnon, arrted for killg Mrice McCarty, a technician wh the Atralian Ballet, April 1991.
But the police, many of whom had a reputatn for hostily toward gay men, often rried out perfunctory vtigatns that overlooked the possibily of homici, former officials and police officers the police New South Wal, the state that clus Sydney, are reviewg the aths of 88 men between 1976 and 2000 to terme whether they should be classified as anti-gay hate 30 of the s rema unsolved, and the police have not said how many of the killgs were tied to gangs.
NSW POLICE LOSE URT BID TO EXCLU STT JOHNSON KILLG OM GAY HATE QUIRY
From the late 1980s, a wave of btal murrs swept Sydney’s clifftops. The victims were gay men; police barely bothered vtigatg." name="scriptn * gay murders sydney *
Uniformed officers now march Sydney’s annual Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras Para, which drew a quarter-ln spectators last year and was attend for the first time by a prime mister, Mallm if the laws were changg slowly the 1980s — New South Wal crimalized sex between men only 1984 — society, cludg the police, was even slower to do so.
CANBERRA, Atralia (AP) — An appeals urt on Friday overturned the nvictn of a man who temporarily admted murrg an Amerin who fell to his ath 1988 om a Sydney cliff top that was known as a gay meetg Whe, 52, was sentenced May to 12 years and seven months prison for the murr of 27-year-old mathematician Stt had surprised his lawyers by pleadg guilty to murr durg a pre-trial urt hearg January. When he was ferretg through old police reports back 2000 as Sydney partied durg the Olympics, Detective Sergeant Steve Page had no ia he was about to lnch the most tensive vtigatn to gay hate murrs ever nducted his vtigatn – named Operatn Taradale – centred on the myster aths of weatherman and newsrear Ross Warren and barman John Rsell on the Bondi clifftops 1989, and the disappearance of French natnal Gill Mattai the same lotn four years earlier, revealed a much wir pattern of evil and sensels vlence directed at gay men across Sydney at the time. Bee of police difference and actn the late 1980s, gangs of young men uld roam the clifftops on the southern headland at Bondi, bashg and killg gay men wh virtual impuny, wh ltle fear of the long arm of the law tchg up wh one killg on the headland at this time, of Thai natnal Krchikorn Rattanjurathaporn, rulted a murr nvictn and years behd bars for the three young killers.
BONDI RISE MEMORIAL HONOURS VICTIMS OF SYDNEY GAY HATE CRIM DURG 1970S TO 1990S
The thori are reviewg the aths of 88 men between 1976 and 2000 to terme whether they should be classified as anti-gay hate crim. * gay murders sydney *
When I asked Page, who qu the force back 2005, to expla his prcipal motive pursug the ground-breakg Taradale vtigatn, which would nsume nearly five years of his life, he replied: “I wanted to look the parents of the men the eye, knowg I had done all that was possible” Thompson, a former state Ombudsman’s vtigator who joed the police force January 1990 to liaise wh the gay and lbian muny, scribed the cliffs at Bondi, topped by Marks Park, as the perfect killg field. Operatn Taradale led to an qut 2005, which found the origal 1989 vtigatns to the aths of Rsell and Warren by the Bondi police were “disgraceful” and “lackltre” State Coroner Jacquele Milledge clared Page’s vtigatn “will provi an excellent source of evince should other matters e to light” rults of Page’s vtigatn are still reverberatg, wh a parliamentary quiry to gay and transgenr hate crim between 1970 and 2010 released earlier this year.
SYDNEY MAN GETS 12 YEARS FOR MURRG GAY AMERIN 1988
CANBERRA, Atralia (AP) — An appeals urt on Friday overturned the nvictn of a man who temporarily admted murrg an Amerin who fell to his ath 1988 om a Sydney cliff top that was known as a gay meetg place. * gay murders sydney *
LoadgThe quiry ma a number of remendatns, cludg a judicial missn of quiry wh vtigative powers to look to the rpons of the NSW jtice system to the long epimic of anti-gay murrs and he lnched his vtigatn 2000, Page was seekg posthumo jtice for the victims’ the ghosts of Warren and Rsell aren’t que settled Morng Edn newsletter is our gui to the day’s most important and tertg stori, analysis and sights.
CANBERRA, Atralia (AP) — A ernment quiry began hearg evince on Wednday of unsolved aths rultg om gay hate crim over four s Atralia’s most populo state where police were notorly different to such Special Commissn of Inquiry to LGBTIQ Hate Crim New South Wal is the “first of s kd anywhere the world, ” a lawyer assistg the quiry, Peter Gray, said at the hearg’s outset Sydney. Vlence agast gay men Sydney was particularly prevalent om the mid-1980s until the early 1990s due to creased hostily and fear stemmg om the AIDS epimic, a prev report by an HIV support group, ACON, half of the 88 “gay hate” and “anti-gay bias” aths New South Wal between 1976 and 2000 occurred that perd, the report clu Stt Johnson, a 27-year-old Los Angel-born mathematician whose fatal fall om a Sydney clifftop 1988 was ially dismissed by police as suici.
Atralian attus toward LGBTQ people changed rapidly the late 20th 1958, then-New South Wal Police Commissner Col Delaney scribed homosexualy as the “greatt social menace” state crimalized gay sex 1984 but allowed a so-lled “gay panic fense” to charg of murr and other vlent crim until 2014.
WHEN GANGS KILLED GAY MEN FOR SPORT: ATRALIA REVIEWS 88 DEATHS
Between 1987 and 1993 up to 20 gay men were murred across Sydney, too many dismissed at the time as suicis or aths by misadventure." name="scriptn * gay murders sydney *
That quiry found the police force “failed s rponsibili to properly vtigate s of historil gay and transgenr hate crime, ” unrmg LGTBQ nfince the crimal jtice quiry last year remend the tablishment of the current judicial quiry wh powers to force wns to new quiry, led by New South Wal Supreme Court Jtice John Sackar, will re-exame the 86 aths durg the 24-year wdow and make s own termatn about which on rema quiry has also examed New South Wal fil of more than 700 unsolved murrs and more than 500 missg persons om 1970 until 2010 for potential gay hate and anti-gay bias quiry mt report by June 30 next year. An elrly man om Victoria has been charged wh the murr of a father almost 35 years ago what police say was a gay-hate crime based on a false perceptn of his sexual pots:Raymond Keam died om severe head juri 1987The alleged murr was examed by a taskforce set up to vtigate gay hate motivThe AIDS Council of NSW said was a step closer to jtice for other victimsStan Early, 75, was arrted at a home Melbourne's south-east and was extraded across the NSW borr, where he spent the night behd bars at Albury Police allege the Clayton man was rponsible for the ath of Raymond Keam, 43, whose body was found grass at Alison Park Randwick January 1987.
SYDNEY MURR NVICTN FOR GAY AMERIN’S ATH OVERTURNED
CANBERRA, Atralia (AP) — A ernment quiry began hearg evince on Wednday of unsolved aths rultg om gay hate crim over four s Atralia’s most populo state where police were notorly different to such vlence. * gay murders sydney *
(Supplied)The martial arts expert died om "severe head juri", wh a 1988 ronial qut revealg he was likely stck by a person or persons alleged murr was examed by tectiv om Strike Force taskforce was set up to vtigate whether there was a gay-hate motive behd the aths of 88 men between 1976 and 2000 — cludg that of Stt Johnson. Among his personal belonggs left at the crime scene were pag om a letter to his Rattanajurathaporn’s murr, outrage turned to anger among Sydney’s gay muny, even though his was one of the very few gay murrs of the time to be award a proper vtigatn and prison time for his boy cy was the grip of an unprecented anti-gay crime wave. Rattanajurathaporn’s slayg turned out to be a watershed moment for Atralia’s LGBTQ muny: a sea of angry prottors filled Sydney’s Macquarie Street ont of the state parliament buildg, red pat was splattered over eleven cy buildgs, cludg the Downg Centre Court were street patrols by gay volunteers – some of them former members of the army and navy – and self-fence urs offered through muny groups and ner-cy gyms.