New Docu-Series On Brother’s Decades Long Fight For Justice In Sydney Gay Hate Killing Case
Image: Steve Johnson and Scott Johnson.
Steve Johnson never believed that his brother, gay American mathematician Scott Johnson died by suicide in Sydney in 1988, as NSW Police claimed.
Johnson’s naked body was found at the base of a cliff at Blue Fish Point, near Manly’s North Head on Sydney’s northern beaches on December 10, 1988. The family’s perseverance finally resulted in Johnson’s killer being nabbed around thirty-two years later.
Steve’s long fight to find answers and justice for his brother is the focus of Never Let Him Go, a new docu-series from ABC News Studios.
Gay Hate Deaths In Sydney
According to ABC News Studios, the series “paints an intimate portrait of Scott’s life and untimely death through never-before-seen evidence from the investigation, personal home videos and rare archival footage from 1980s’ Sydney. As Steve’s probe gained international attention, it sparked a public reckoning in Australia, shedding new light on a pattern of violence against the LGBTQ+ community.”
The Johnson family’s fight for justice also drew much-needed attention to the series of killings of gay men and trans women that took place in Sydney and NSW between 1970 and 2010.
‘The docu-series features exclusive in-depth interviews with Steve and his family and first-ever interviews with key law enforcement officials who worked on the case,” the producers said.
Scott Johnson’s Killer Arrested
The series also tracks the case’s conclusion, when Johnson’s killer is arrested in 2020 and sentenced to nine years in jail in 2023.
In a coup, the series features an interview with White’s wife Helen, who tipped the police about her husband’s possible involvement in Johnson’s death. Helen had told the trial court that White used to brag to the family that he used to go “bashing poofters”.
“I remember asking him if this is one of the gay men he bashed?”
“He said ‘that girly looking p****r’,” Helen told the court. Helen said that in 2008, she again asked White, “did you do this?”
White, according to Helen, replied, “The only good p****r is a dead p*****r”. She recalled that she asked him if he had thrown Johnson off a cliff. White replied: “It’s not my fault the dumb f**k ran off the cliff.”
Over four episodes, Never Let Him Go, “traces the intense journey to cracking Scott’s case. With dozens of similar unsolved cases involving gay men in Australia, Steve has been left to decide if his search for justice was complete — or if it had just begun,” the producers added.
‘Never Let Him Go’ premieres on Wednesday, September 6, on Hulu.
