Man, 77, Sentenced To 22 Years In Prison Over 1987 Sydney Gay Bashing Murder
Image: Stanley Early (left) was found guilty of Raymond Keam's killing in Alison Park in Sydney's East in 1987.
Thirty-six years after Sydney man Raymond Keam was beaten to death at a gay beat in Alison Park, Randwick, a court sentenced his killer to 22 years imprisonment.
Stanley Bruce Early, 77, found guilty of Keam’s murder by a jury in June, was sentenced by Justice Dina Yehia of the NSW Supreme Court to 22 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 15 years and six months. Early will be eligible for parole in April 2037.
Early, also known as ‘Spider’, lived as a tenant in a boarding house opposite Alison Park and was allegedly the leader of the “Alison Park gang”, which targeted and assaulted men they suspected to be gay.
Bashed To Death At Gay Beat
Forty-four-year-old Keam’s body was found on the morning of January 13, 1987, at Alison Park in Sydney’s eastern suburb of Randwick. Keam, a martial arts expert, did not identify as gay. The park was a well-known gay beat.
Raymond died as a result of severe head injuries. In 1988, an inquest found that he had died from being bashed by “a person or persons unknown”.
The murder remained unsolved for over three decades. In 2021, NSW police announced a $1 million award for information and later that year, Early was arrested from his home in Clayton, a suburb of Melbourne.
At the trial, the court heard that Early once smashed the side of the windscreen of a Porsche near Alison Park, because he thought the driver was gay.
Anti-Gay Hate
Among the witnesses was Early’s brother Barry Sutton. Sutton said that his brother had travelled to Bundaberg, Queensland on January 14, 1987 and stayed with him for a few days. Another witness, an inmate said that Early had revealed about bashing a man in the park.
Justice Yehia said that while it could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt that Early had murdered Keam, he was part of the gang that chased and bashed him.
The judge said the offence was motivated by s “hatred or prejudice against homosexual males”.
His gang was behind my bashing in 1986. It has taken along time for justice to prevail.
He will most likely die in jail and I hope that he experiences some of the suffering that he bought upon others.
Should have been life without Parole.
He didn’t know if he was gay or not, He was out to do harm to someone. Why was he not given life without parole? A life for a life.