Australian Man Confesses To Pushing Gay Guy off Cliff in 1988 Hate Crime
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An Australian man confessed to the 1988 murder of American mathematician of then 27-year-old Scott Johnson in Sydney. The two men were met at a popular gay hook up site.
Scott White, 51, appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in January to the murder of Johnson.
The victim was a Los Angeles native who was working on a doctorate in mathematics at Australian National University and living in Canberra at the time.
Prosecutor Brett Hatfield said the precise details of the murder were not known and that White’s accounts had varied.
White had met Johnson in a bar in suburban Manly and Johnson had stripped naked at the clifftop before he died, Hatfield said. He said the gravity of the murder was significantly elevated because it was motivated by the victim’s sexuality.
Johnson’s death by fall was initially dismissed by the Sydney police as suicide.
White faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced by Justice Helen Wilson on Tuesday.
