Man facing jail for historic anti-gay murder was in closet himself, says lawyer
Related: Murder of gay, math genius finally solved after man admits guilt 34 years laterHowever, since that time, his lawyers have been trying to withdraw his confession.
At a pre-sentencing hearing today, Belinda Rigg SC said White, who was 18 at the time of Johnson’s death, suffers from a “cognitive impairment”.She also revealed White was gay himself and scared of others finding out.
He lived with his brother and alcoholic parents at the time of Johnson’s death.White’s former wife, Helen, also appeared at today’s hearing.
She told the court White often bragged about beating up gay men when younger. She said he even told his six kids about it.She told the court she twice asked her husband about the killing of Scott Johnson, after the case was brought up in the news.In 1998, she read about the Johnson case in a newspaper and asked her then-husband about it.“He replied, ‘oh that girly looking poofter?’ … we then had a bit of an argument,” she said.“Did you do this?” she asked him. “He said the only good poofter is a dead poofter, to which I said, ‘So you threw him off the cliff’.
