Bouncer convicted of gay murder
A man has been found guilty of the murder of Felipe Flores, 19 years after the event.
A 47-year-old bouncer, Paul Armstrong, was found guilty of bashing the 27-year-old to death after he’d left the Exchange Hotel on the night of September 2, 1991.
Armstrong had admitted to having a relationship with Flores, but had denied committing the murder.
DNA testing, which became possible in 2008, showed blood found under Armstrong’s nails was the victim’s.
Armstrong is now awaiting sentencing.
I hope you are right Peter but it would be reassuring to hear from someone who can praise the police for working very hard on a case where the victim was gay, the cause of the offence was homophobia and, the offender was heterosexual.
It is not as though we are short of crimes like that in Sydney.
If you have knowledge of such a set of circumstances your representation of the facts of the matter would help dispel my suspicions.
Unfortunately, your representation of the tragedy which befell your relationship did not dispel my suspicions.
Chillisauce,
In the first instance, the police were slack in not following up the case and they admitted it…it had nothing to do with sexuality. They have now arrested and charged someone.I am not sure about the other bashing, but i can assure you that it had nothing to do with sexuality again.
As far as Felipe Flores is concerned, this was an unsolved homicide, which the police were able to solve using DNA. It had nothing to do with the sexuality of the offender. The DPP Crown is one of the most sympathetic persons I have ever had anything to do with as far as sexuality is concerned.
How do I know this? I have been working with police and the DPP for many years in my position as head of a support group. When my business partner was murdered in 1994, a lot of my gay friends questioned whether the police really cared because after all “he was gay”. Well let me assure you, the police did care and indeed, still do care,and worked very hard on the case, effecting the arrest and conviction of the murderer…who coincidently was a psycopath who could not accept his own homosexuality. The police do not care about the sexuality of a victim or an offender.
Interesting cultural dynamics – two young gay men were bashed at Blacktown with iron bars and nothing much was done about it because the attackers were straight.
It was also reported in this paper that another gay man was bashed in an inner city pub with plenty of witnesses – nothing was done because the attackers were straight.
Now we read in this paper that the police and the DPP can summon up the interest and the effort to convict a murderer 19 years after the crime was committed – and just by coincidence the offender was gay.
It is interesting to observe the different priorities the police and the DPP give to similar crimes committed by people of specific gender.
Finally justice at last. Congratulations to the police who solved this crime and congratulations to the DPP team qho sucessfully prosecuted Armstrong