Scott White told police that he was himself gay and frightened that his homophobic brother would find out. She told the court on Monday that her husband had told her Johnson had run off the cliff. White’s former wife Helen White told police in 2019 that her then-husband had bragged about beating gay men and had said the only good gay man was a dead gay man.
White was 18 and homeless when he met 27-year-old Los Angeles-born Johnson at a bar in suburban Manly in December 1988 and went with him to a nearby cliff top at North Head. He must serve at least eight years and three months in prison before he can be considered for parole. She also said she applied more lenient sentencing patterns in place in New South Wales state in the late 1980s. Justice Helen Wilson said she did not find beyond reasonable doubt that the murder was a gay hate crime, an aggravating factor that would have led to a longer sentence.
