NSW police lose urt bid to exclu Stt Johnson killg om gay hate quiry | Sydney | The Guardian

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
• HOW THE 1988 GAY HATE CRIME MURR OF STT JOHNSON SYDNEY WAS ROLVED
• STT JOHNSON: MAN NFS TO 1988 GAY HATE MURR
• 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
• NSW POLICE LOSE URT BID TO EXCLU STT JOHNSON KILLG OM GAY HATE QUIRY
• ATRALIAN MAN IS CONVICTED OF KILLG GAY AMERIN 1980S
• SYDNEY MAN GETS 12 YEARS FOR MURRG GAY AMERIN 1988

NSW QUIRY TO VTIGATE 40 YEARS OF UNSOLVED SYDNEY GAY HATE ATHS

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

(Supplied: NSW Police)A judicial quiry was one of the key remendatns of a 2018 parliamentary mtee to gay and transgenr hate crim, which found NSW Police were different to such crim and failed to properly vtigate them at the time. NSW Police tablished Strike Force Parrabell 2013 to vtigate the murrs of 86 gay men and found a third of the killgs were a rult of gay Strike Force found the AIDS crisis fuelled homophobia but nclud was "almost impossible" to intify a "gay-hate bias" om police vtigators workg on the s. 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.

(Supplied: Marton Dobras-Vcze)"The crim took place at a time when many the muny thought gay and transgenr people were sick, perverted or crimals, " chief executive Nilas Parkhill said. "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. The mystery surroundg the gay hate crime murr of Stt Johnson has been one of Atralia's most puzzlg and emotnally three ronial quts, a rerd $2 ln reward and the persistence of fay members and police, a killer has now been nvicted.

HOW THE 1988 GAY HATE CRIME MURR OF STT JOHNSON SYDNEY WAS ROLVED

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". "For the dozens of other gay men who lost their liv the 1980s and '90s, a world full of anti-gay prejudice and hatred, " he last year, the NSW ernment announced an quiry to btal hate crim mted agast members of Sydney's gay muny between 1970 and 2010.

A memorial has also been set up at Marks Park Tamarama, the se of many spected murrs, to acknowledge and honour the victims of gay hate crim. Image source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Stt me to Atralia 1986 om the USA man has fally nfsed to the murr of Cambridge Universy graduate Stt Johnson after more than 30 27-year-old's naked body was found at the bottom of North Head cliffs, a well known gay cisg ground Sydney, Atralia, back the time, his ath was led as suici - somethg his fay never Whe was arrted and charged 2020, and this week unexpectedly plead guilty at a pre-trial lawyers attempted to have the admissn whdrawn, argug that Whe, 50, was not mentally on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge rejected that motn, wrg the plea was entered " a loud clear voice, and an emphatic and termed manner". "It was nceivable to me that Stt went somewhere and jumped off a cliff, " his brother Steve told Rad 1 Newsbeat 2018, when he was sperately mpaigng for the tth behd his brother's 2005 Steve says he beme aware of quts to siar aths of gay men at Bondi Beach Sydney - the moment when he says he "woke up" to what might have happened to his younger lol police showed ltle tert re-openg Stt's se, Steve hired an vtigator who unvered urt rerds of gangs who roamed northern beach Sydney at the time mtg asslts agast gay source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Steve (left) has spent more than 30 years tryg to fd out the tth about his brother Stt's athAll the years later, Steve told ABC that he was grateful a trial uld be avoid.

STT JOHNSON: MAN NFS TO 1988 GAY HATE MURR

On both ocsns police found nothg to nvce them Stt hadn't taken his own November 2017 a roner led Stt had been murred by a gay hate gang, which led to a new was timated up to 80 gay men were murred by homophobic gangs and around Sydney the late eighti - wh many phed off third qut created a lot of publicy, wh Atralian police eventually renewg their vtigatn and offerg a $1m reward for rmatn, wh Steve reportedly offerg an addnal $ rerds show "a strike force" was assembled, and followg rmatn received om a member of the public, foc turned to Stt was arrted and charged wh murr on 12 May source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Steve says he spent summers wh his brother travellg, readg philosophy and dog maths togetherNew South Wal Police Commissner Mick Fuller prevly said Stt's ath was one of the most challengg s he's ever worked on - mostly bee no-one was willg to talk about his murr. Stt moved om the US to Atralia 1986 bee, at the time, domtic partnership laws (siar to civil partnership) were some of the most clive the homosexualy had only been crimalised New South Wal 1984 and Steve believ police did not take hate crim serly at the time of his brother's source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Stt moved to Atralia 1986 to be wh a man he met at Cambridge Universy"The gay muny were send class cizens. "The gangs would attack the cisg areas bee they knew the police wouldn't e after also knew that the gay muny were aaid of the police, so they wouldn't e and report the crim.

STT JOHNSON: GAY US STUNT'S KILLER JAILED SYDNEY AFTER 30 YEARS

The unvarnished fact is that late at night, Marks Park, a grassy verge ppg the headland and the ncrete pathway skirtg the cliff face, had been a gay beat – a place where homosexual men would socialise and hook up – sce at least the late 1920s. 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.

FOUR OTHER GAY-HATE CRIM BEG VTIGATED BY NSW POLICE AFTER STT JOHNSON MURR CHARGE

”In what was perhaps another watershed moment this year, a 75-year-old man was arrted for the murr of Raymond Keam, a martial arts expert and father of two who was found beaten to ath January 1987 at Alison Park, Randwick, then a well-known gay beat Sydney’s east. As Sue Thompson, a former state ombudsman’s vtigator who joed the police force 1990 to ordate s liaison wh the gay and lbian muny, tells me the podst: “Cliffs were the easit weapon; you didn’t have to rry anythg wh you. ”For Thompson, beg a liaison officer was eply personal: one of her close iends, a gay man, had been murred only months before she took the role, and she was ls than imprsed wh the police rponse.

NSW POLICE LOSE URT BID TO EXCLU STT JOHNSON KILLG OM GAY HATE QUIRY

”If there remas any doubt that gay men’s liv were seen as of ls value at that time, look at how the murrs were vtigated by the Bondi police. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, Sydney’s gay and lbian muny was unr siege (bashgs and murrs of gay men were also happeng Melbourne, Brisbane and Alai, but not on the same sle).

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.

ATRALIAN MAN IS CONVICTED OF KILLG GAY AMERIN 1980S

”Parkhill nces that the culture of the NSW police force reflected broar societal norms of the time, although possibly exacerbated by a mostly male staff and the AIDS crisis, which provid those wh an agenda agast gay men wh the perfect ammunn to stigmatise the LGBTQ muny even more. Earlier this year, the fdgs om an 18-month parliamentary quiry, Gay and Transgenr Hate Crim between 1970 and 2010, found that the NSW Police Force had failed s rponsibily to properly vtigate historil hate crim.

My book on the murrs, Bondi Badlands, was published back 2007, and over the years one qutn has ntued to hnt me: what turns young men to murrers of gay men? The pop-psych explanatn we so equently hear – that those who m vlent offenc agast gay men mt have suffered sexual or physil abe themselv – don’t necsarily hold up to close scty.

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. On Tuday, a judge found there was not enough evince to tablish was a gay hate crime, but sentenced Whe to jail for the 1988 killg.

SYDNEY MAN GETS 12 YEARS FOR MURRG GAY AMERIN 1988

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. Homosexualy had only been crimalised New South Wal two years before Dr Johnson's ath, and his fay allege that police did not take hate crim serly. Invtigators ially treated Johnson's ath as a brother Steve mpaigned for s for the se to be re-vtigated, claimg that his brother may have been murred by homophobic 's now timated up to 80 gay men were murred - wh many phed off 2012 and 2015, roners requted the se be reopened.