Beat stabbing ‘wasn’t gay panic’

Beat stabbing ‘wasn’t gay panic’

The manslaughter conviction of a schoolboy for the fatal stabbing of Gerard Fleming wasn’t downgraded because of a homosexual provocation defence, NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos has said.

Acknowledging community concerns about the three-and-a-half-year non-parole sentence, Hatzistergos said it is important to note that the Court, including the jury, saw this case as a -˜tragedy arising from a failure to communicate and a misunderstanding’, rather than one involving homophobic motives.

Sydney MP Clover Moore had asked the Government for confirmation that the gay panic defence was not working its way back into the legal system through cases like this.

The teenager, referred to as CR during his trial, was 16 at the time of the 2007 beat stabbing and spoke of his remorse in the witness box.

The jury found him guilty of manslaughter rather than murder on the basis of excessive self-defence.

Hatzistergos defended the law, which was introduced in 2001 because Australia did not have separate degrees of murder as separate offences, as well as the implementation status of recommendations from the Homosexual Advance Defence working party.

Since the release of the working party’s Report in 1998, all the recommendations have been implemented, except the exclusion of a non-violent homosexual advance from forming the basis of the defence by provocation, Hatzistergos wrote to Moore.

The Sexuality-Related Hate Crime Monitoring Committee meets periodically and has observed a marked decline in the frequency of successful provocation defences involving non-violent sexual advances over recent years, as well as a reduction in the incidents of sexuality-related hate crime in general.

Moore had renewed the call for the homosexual advance defence to be removed from the statutes, but saw the positives in the decline of its use.

I hope that this reflects changing community attitudes and increasing acceptance of lesbians and gay men, she wrote to constituents.

Upper House MP Fred Nile and gay activist Gary Burns had spoken out against what they called an inadequate sentence for the Fleming manslaughter.

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6 responses to “Beat stabbing ‘wasn’t gay panic’”

  1. Total absolute shame of the so called legal system and who it protects…just another loop hole and double standard…when was the last time a woman killed a man for applying one of those discusting advances they are so well known for…just had a female co-worker advise me of being asked to cheat with him using the line “in Sydney everyone does”, adding that her husband probably does already. With the refusal came another man to warn her not to cold shoulder the first predator (his friend) as they had both noticed her not speaking with him anymore. Can I tell her to take care of at least the first one now?

  2. Very very bad justice, it harks back to the murder of Harvey Milk and the killer getting less that 5yrs prison for it! And that was 30 years ago!!! Shame NSW legal system, shame!

  3. This is a sad indictment of our legal system. The criminal knowingly carried a lethal weapon, he used it to kill an unarmed person, it’s murder… murder, and he should have been convicted as such.

  4. This case further illustrates just how few services there are for gay people with a mental disability. Had this victim been heterosexual, his sexual desires would’ve been dealt with in a mature way and not left for him to discover at a dirty beat. (more evidence as to why gay men shouldn’t be using public beats)

  5. Sadly in matters like this there are 2 people involved in the altercation and one is dead. The other is able to convey their version of events without anyone really knowing what happened. The other anomaly is with the maximum sentence for manslaughter. It is 25 years and sadly the average custodial sentence is 3.5 years as happened here but at least CR will be under the supervision of the Parole Board for a further 3 years and 6 months.

  6. The jury in the killing of gay man Gerard Fleming may have been a jury of lay folk expressing its moral judgement on male homosexuality because it accepted a defence of “excessive self -defence”.Because this defence was accepted by the jury the boys sentence was downgraded to manslaughter and a lower custodial sentence imposed.
    My question to the jury is,
    “Why was this boy carrying a knife “?
    There was no evidence given in court by his senior counsel he was a part time rabbit skinner.
    This case sadly reflects a held view in society that the life of a homosexual man is of less relevance and value than that of a heterosexual man.
    This case also seems to echo a consistent prejudice that homosexual men who are victims of a homicide are not entitled to be publicly mourned.
    The killing of Gerard Fleming was a homicide.
    His killer should of-been jailed for a minimum of 25 years.
    Why should this young killer be home in time to blow out the candles on his 21st birthday cake ?
    Mr fleming will never enjoy his next birthday because he is laying dead in the ground.
    He is there because a 16 year old school boy murdered him.
    This is so unfair !

    Gary Burns.