Gay Hate Inquiry Dismisses NSW Police Bid To Stop Examining Scott Johnson Death

NSW Police failed in their bid to stop a special commission inquiring into unsolved anti-LGBTQI hate crimes from examining the 1988 death of 27-year-old gay American mathematician Scott Johnson in Sydney. 

Last month, Johnson’s killer Scott White was held guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years imprisonment. 

NSW Police claimed that Johnson’s case could not be classified as an unsolved case and therefore fell outside the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference. 

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. For around three decades, police had insisted Johnson’s death could have been a suicide, despite his family’s claims that he had been killed. 

Police Animosity Towards Scott Johnson’s Family

In 2015,  detective chief inspector Pamela Young, who was part of a 2013 reinvestigation into the case, insisted on ABC’s Lateline program that “there’s still evidence and information that Scott may have suicided”. Two years later, in 2017, the police reopened the case after concluding that Johnson’s death was a homicide. 

In his judgement on Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice John Sackar, who is heading the special commission ruled that he was “permitted to inquire into SF Macnamir (the 2013 reinvestigation), including the involvement of the senior officers of the NSW police force responsible for SF Macnamir in the Lateline interview.”

“I have in effect been directed to have regard to evidence of potential deficiencies in the manner in which Scot Johnson’s death was examined by the NSW police force, given that this is a matter highlighted in the Parliamentary Committee’s reports,” Justice Sackar said. 

The inquiry cited the NSW Parliamentary Commission’s conclusion that “SF Macnamir ‘collectively smeared’ the family of a victim (Scot Johnson) of what then ought properly to have been regarded as a possible gay hate homicide.’

Gay Hate Crime Deaths

Justice Sackar also rejected the contention that the inquiry must take the view that Johnson’’ death was not a gay hate crime as the trial court had ruled it out. 

“Notwithstanding the fact of Mr White’s conviction after pleading guilty to manslaughter and his sentence based on an agreed set of facts, it is apparent from the passages of the sentencing judgement that much does remain unknown in relation to circumstances surrounding Scott Johnson’s death,” Justice Sackar said. 

“The fact that the interview was given by the senior officer responsible for SF Macnamir and that it concerned Scot Johnson’s death, demonstrates its intimate connections with SF Macnamir. Its content also reflects the animosity of the officer towards Scott Johnson’s family member,” said Justice Sackar, adding, “The task set for me of determining the cause and manner of a large number of potential gay hate crime deaths over a considerable span of time is a substantial one. I am greatly assisted in that task by having a baseline of information and understanding generally concerning the culture, practices and approaches over time by the NSWPF to the investigation of potential gay hate homicides.”

The commission is looking into the unsolved deaths of gay men and trans women in Sydney and NSW between 1970 and 2010.