Sydney man sentenced for 1988 murder of gay man Scott Johnson
gcn.iepled guilty to the murder, shocking even his lawyers.#Breaking: The man behind the murder and suspected gay hate crime of Scott Johnson 33 years ago has been jailed for 12 years.Scott White pleaded guilty to killing Johnson, then 27, at a known gay beat at North Head, and was given a non-parole period of 8 years and 3 months.
pic.twitter.com/F6mBXLFokM— 10 News First Sydney (@10NewsFirstSyd) May 3, 2022Today, May 3, Scott White appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court, where he was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison for the 1988 Sydney murder, with a non-parole period of eight years and three months.Justice Helen Wilson found Scott White guilty of punching Scott Johnson causing him to fall off the cliff to his death.
Although the murder had been treated as a homophobic hate crime, Wilson said there was not enough evidence to prove it was one “beyond reasonable doubt”, even though she deemed it “very likely” that the killing was motivated by hate towards the victim’s sexuality.According to Wilson, White’s assault on Johnson was an act of reckless indifference to human life, since it was done on top of a dangerous cliff and the man didn’t even alert the police after Johnson fell.#BREAKING: Scott White has been jailed for a minimum of 8 years and 3 months for killing gay man Scott Johnson, whose body was found at the bottom of a cliff on Sydney's northern beaches in 1988. #9New pic.twitter.com/dnlp5aUNcP— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) May 3, 2022The judge explained that the sentence was shortened because of some mitigating factors, which included White’s guilty plea, his difficult childhood, mental health and alcohol abuse issues.
