NSW Police Tried To Prove Sydney Gay Hate Deaths Were Suicides Or Misadventure

NSW police lost crucial evidence and “deliberately” refused to investigate three Sydney gay hate deaths as homicides, a gay hate inquiry heard on Wednesday. 

The special commission of inquiry, headed by Supreme Court Justice John Sackar, is looking into the unsolved deaths of gay men and trans women in Sydney and NSW between 1970 and 2010. 

This week, the court looked at the killings and disappearance of three gay men – bartender John Russell (31), French national Gilles Mattaini (26) and newsreader Ross Warren (25)  –  at Marks Park in Bondi. 

Marks Park Deaths

Russell’s body was found at the base of the cliffs at Marks Park between Bondi and Tamarama in November 1989. The bodies of the two other men were never found – Mattaini disappeared in September 1985 and Warren in July 1989. 

Mattaini was last seen walking at Bondi and Warren’s car and keys were found near the cliffs at Marks Park. Marks Park was a well-known gay beat and had been the site of other gay hate attacks, killings and disappearances of gay men. 

Senior counsel assisting Peter Gray submitted that there was evidence to conclude that the deaths of Russell and Warren were “gay hate crimes” and they met their deaths at the hands of “one of more gay hate assailants”. The counsel said that there was a “distinct possibility” that Mattaini was the victim of a gay hate murder, but the available evidence did not permit a “positive conclusion”. 

The inquiry heard that human hairs, possibly from another person, were found on Rusell’s left hand. Police bagged the hairs for analysis but they were lost before the first inquest in 1990. 

NSW Police Overturned Coroner’s Findings

In 2005, The coroner concluded that Russell and Warren were probably assaulted and thrown off the cliff by homophobic assailants and Mattaini possibly died in similar circumstances.

The coroner referred to gangs of men targeting gay men at Marks Park. One such gang was known as the Park Side Killers, and some members said they would throw gay men off cliffs. 

Assisting counsel said that Strike Force Neiwand, which was set up in 2015, “made virtually no attempt” to investigate the deaths of Mittaini, Russel and Warren as homicides and instead “put far more effort into finding evidence that might indicate suicide or misadventure than it did into finding evidence that might indicate homicide”. 

The counsel said that instead, it directed its “considerable efforts and resources” to build a case for “contradicting and overturning” the coroner’s findings. 

An earlier investigation had identified around 116 persons of interest, mainly members of the gangs which used to target gay men in the Bondi-Tamarama, Alexandria, Oxford Street and Kings Cross areas. 

“Strike Force Neiwand made a deliberate choice not to pursue any of those persons of interest by any fresh investigative means,” the counsel added.