Post by hi224 on Feb 2, 2019 17:28:37 GMT
In the 1970s and the 1980s, up to twelve men died at or disappeared from cliffs around Sydney. At the time some were judged as suicides or accidents. It is now believed gay bashers were responsible for throwing men from the top of cliffs. Many of the clifftop areas operated as a gay beat (outdoor cruising area) and the men disappeared while walking those areas alone at night. There were several other bashing deaths at other beats: often public toilets in parks.
In recent years, New South Wales police have been re-examining 88 crimes from 1970s, 80s and 90s, to assess how many might fit the gay-hate category, and if a homophobic police culture may have hindered the original investigations. The 88 crimes do not all involve beats or cliffs, but most have victims who were gay men or men possibly mistaken for being gay. The crimes occurred in different areas of the state of New South Wales, but mostly in Sydney.
Of these 88 crimes under review, 23 are unsolved. The cliff deaths and disappearances are included in the police review.
Three of the highest profile cases are those of Gilles Mattaini, Ross Warren, John Russell. They were gay men who were found dead at, or disappeared from, the cliff top beat at Marks Park, Tamarama [map] at night.
Mattaini went missing in September 1985, Warren went missing in July 1989, and Russell died in November 1989.
Scott Johnson's death in December 1988 at a cliff in North Head [map] near Manly has also attracted a lot of publicity in recent years.
These cases seem very similar but were not linked to each other or attributed to gay bashers at the time. Some were judged as suicides or accidental falls. Sydney's many cliffs are well known suicide locations. Also, Mattaini was not reported missing until 2002.
Police took just four days to conclude Warren fell accidentally into the sea. The Coroner later called that investigation "grossly inadequate and shameful" and concluded Warren was murdered and police now call it a "probable gay-hate crime".
The family of Simon Blair Wark who apparently died after falling from a different cliff, believe police too-quickly dismissed the death as a suicide.
The family of Scott Johnson reject police claims he probably committed suicide.
Buried in the review is the case of William Rooney, who was bashed to death in a lane in Wollongong in 1986. The investigation into Rooney's death seems to have been a perfunctory one, and it remains unsolved. Rooney might have been attacked by a serial rapist who operated in Wollongong in the late 1980s. Someone was convicted of similar crimes at the time, but no one was ever charged for the attack on Rooney.
The cliff deaths/disappearances
David Williams whose naked body was found in the Manly cliff area in 1979, according to friends, although there is no coronial record of his death. His clothes were left neatly folded, according to the former police gay liaison co-ordinator Sue Thompson
Peter Sheil whose body was found - with the fly of his trousers undone - at the base of small cliff at Sydney's Gordons Bay [map] in April 1983. He wasn't gay, and had a mental illness. His family believes he might have been mistaken for being gay and was attacked by gay bashers as he walked home through a gay beat: He wasn't gay, but could Peter have been a gay-hate victim?
Gilles Mattaini who went missing in September 1985. He was last seen walking on the coastal path that follows the cliffs between Bondi and Tamarama
Scott Johnson who fell to his death near Bluefish Point at North Head [map], near Manly. His body was found, naked, on the rocks in December 1988. The original coroner agreed with police and ruled it was a suicide. Johnson's partner reported Scott telling him, about five years earlier, that he had contemplated jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge when he mistakenly feared he was at risk of contracting HIV from a casual sexual encounter. But the boyfriend, at the time Scott died, did not believe he had any reason to kill himself. Nor did the Johnson family. Steve Johnson says there is ample evidence of gay-bashing gangs around Manly and the northern beaches at the time.
Television newsreader Ross Warren who vanished from the Marks Park gay beat at Tamarama in July 1989. Police took four days to conclude Warren accidentally fell into the sea. His body was never recovered
Graham Paynter's body was found on the rocks beneath a 50-metre cliff at Tathra Beach [map] on the New South Wales far south coast in October 1989. Police say Paynter had been drinking heavily with a friend on the day before his body was found. He had been arrested that day for stealing a bottle of rum from a liquor store. Tathra Beach is 451 kilometres from Sydney
gay barman John Russell was found at the base of a cliff on the Bondi side of Marks Park in November 1989. He had a high concentration of alcohol in his blood and police concluded he fell accidentally
Simon Blair Wark was found dead in Sydney Harbour in January 1990. He was a gay man and had taken anti-depressants. Some of Blair's clothing and possessions were found at The Gap, a cliff on Sydney Harbour's South Head [map]. The Gap is an infamous suicide spot. Blair's father informed the coroner that his son had said someone was trying to kill him. Blair's family believe police too-quickly dismissed the death as a suicide, ignoring compelling reasons to investigate it as a potential murder.
There are also a couple of cliff deaths included in the review, that seem more like suicides:
Mark Spanswick was found on rocks at the north end of North Head at Manly in 1976. He had left Australia to join the navy in Auckland, New Zealand, for a short time before he deserted in 1974 - after bullying, according to a family member. Mark Spanswick booked into a Sydney hotel on May 9, 1976, and out on May 11, the day his body was discovered. His father told the coroner Mark was "disenchanted with his life" and that he was familiar with Manly's Fairy Bower area, where the family had holidayed. The family member who contacted Johnson was inclined to believe it was suicide or an accident. The coroner agreed. He made an open finding, satisfied it was not foul play but unable to determine whether it was an accidental fall or suicide. Police now say: "There is no indication the deceased was gay and nothing located in the case file that this matter was a gay-hate motivated crime. Probable misadventure/suicide."
Paul Rath, was found dead in June 1977. A fisherman found his body at the base of a 50-metre cliff, wedged between rocks and in a sitting position, near the Fairy Bower [map] at Manly. Rath's trousers were down, almost around his knees. The young local had been a devout Catholic who worked as a catechist at public schools. A police officer would find Rath's rosary beads near the body, and his father would tell the coroner that Paul liked to go to the cliffs to pray and calm his nerves. Paul had a nervous breakdown as a teenager. He was on medication for his nerves and this affected his balance, so his parents believed he fell accidentally.
Crimes in other locations
Alan Edge who was strangled in his Newcastle flat in October 1977. Newcastle is 163 kilometres north of Sydney
Richard Slater, who was not known to be gay, died after being bashed and robbed at a gay beat in Newcastle West (163 kilometres north of Sydney) in December 1980
Gerald Cuthbert was stabbed 64 times at his friend's Paddington apartment in October 1981. Police say he was known to have "multiple short-term sexual partners" and conclude "there is no evidence that the offence is a gay-hate motivated crime"
William Rooney was bashed to death in a lane in Wollongong (118 kilometres south of Sydney) in 1986. In the review this unsolved case seems to have been treated in a perfunctory way by police due to a mix-up the spelling of his surname. At the time of the crime his partner Wayne Davis learned of it by seeing the injured Rooney being taken away in an ambulance on a TV news report. Davis says that the police response was generally unsympathetic, as if Rooney's death didn't matter because he was gay. Davis was briefly suspected of the crime, but later a detective suggested Rooney fell down a flight of stairs leading to the lane. The extreme nature of the injuries did not suggest an accidental fall and the coroner made an open finding. Some detectives did not believe there was a fall. Some people suspected Rooney was attacked by a serial attacker/rapist operating in the Wollongong area. There is a long section on William Rooney and the Wollongong crimes against gay men, on the SBS Gay Hate Decades site, and here is an SBS news article on the William Rooney case
Raymond Keam was killed in Alison Park, a gay beat at Randwick, in 1987
William Allen died after being bashed near the gay-beat toilets in Alexandria Park, Alexandria, in 1988
John Hughes, believed to be gay, was violently bashed and strangled in his apartment in Potts Point in May 1989. His flatmate was acquitted of the murder
William Dutfield was found in his Mosman apartment in November 1991, bashed to death with a metal tape dispenser. Police now say the main suspect was known to police - and to Dutfield
Cyril Olsen was bashed then fell (missing his trousers and shoes) from Rushcutters Bay marina [map] in 1992. Police immediately identified it as a gay bashing and advised the inquest that such an attack preceded Olsen falling into the harbour and drowning. The coroner, however, concluded Olsen drowned after an accidental fall
Kenneth Brennan was found stabbed to death in a "security unit" (presumably an apartment in a building with a security entrance) at Elizabeth Bay in June 1995. Brennan was last seen alive around 10 pm the previous night at the King Steam Sauna on Oxford Street. Police say "there is evidence that he was involved in a sexual encounter shortly before or at the time he was killed"
Scott Miller's body was found at the base of a "drop" at Millers Point [map] on Sunday 2 March 1997, the day after he watched the Gay Mardi Gras parade with friends. Police say there was evidence he was intoxicated and that he was robbed. He was not gay but might have been mistaken for being gay by a gang prowling in the aftermath of Mardi Gras, though Millers Point isn't a gay area or a beat.
David Rose was found bashed to death in a Kensington apartment in December 1997. Nobody was charged but police believe the main suspect was known to Rose
News articles
Scott Johnson death: It's 'inconceivable' my brother killed himself
New $1 million reward offered over Scott Johnson's gay hate killing at Sydney cliffs
$300k reward to help solve suspected gay hate deaths of John Russell, Ross Warren and Giles Mattaini
'Ugly part of our history': Sydney's wave of gay-hate deaths exposed
Author Duncan McNab hopes one of the gay hate crime gang members finally speaks out
Gay beat to tribute: Bondi's Marks Park to get hate crime memorial
Who will stand up to 'poofter bashers'?: a 2002 article focusing on gay bashings at beats in Melbourne. The attackers were later caught and imprisoned: Two jailed over gang gay bashings
Up to 80 men murdered, 30 cases unsolved
Websites
The police review of the New South Wales crimes: Strike Force Parrabell - NSW Police - NSW Government
The New South Wales crimes are listed on the SBS Gay Hate Decades site which includes a synopsis of each crime, a pointer on the map to where it occurred, and an overview of the police review.
This police review was posted to r/UnresolvedMysteries/ in December 2018, but many commenters seemed to assume that between 30 and 90 men might have been been thrown from a cliff at Bondi Beach. BBC news article Scott Johnson death: It's 'inconceivable' my brother killed himself says "It's now estimated up to 80 gay men were murdered by homophobic gangs in and around Sydney in the late eighties - with many pushed off cliffs." This wording is also a bit misleading. The crimes involve a range of locations and not all happened at gay beats. There are about 12 cases where men died or disappeared from various cliffs around Sydney.
While over 80 crimes were included in the review, many don't seem to have been done by a gang of gay bashers. One unsolved case included in the review, that of Andrew Currie, appeared to be a drug overdose in a park, and Currie was not gay. The death of Samantha Raye, while included in the review, is seen as a likely suicide. Many of the crimes are solved and some are known to not be perpetrated by gay bashers but by people known to the victim who had specific motives.
But various crimes at beats do remain unsolved. This includes several well publicised cliff deaths, and the murder of William Rooney.
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In recent years, New South Wales police have been re-examining 88 crimes from 1970s, 80s and 90s, to assess how many might fit the gay-hate category, and if a homophobic police culture may have hindered the original investigations. The 88 crimes do not all involve beats or cliffs, but most have victims who were gay men or men possibly mistaken for being gay. The crimes occurred in different areas of the state of New South Wales, but mostly in Sydney.
Of these 88 crimes under review, 23 are unsolved. The cliff deaths and disappearances are included in the police review.
Three of the highest profile cases are those of Gilles Mattaini, Ross Warren, John Russell. They were gay men who were found dead at, or disappeared from, the cliff top beat at Marks Park, Tamarama [map] at night.
Mattaini went missing in September 1985, Warren went missing in July 1989, and Russell died in November 1989.
Scott Johnson's death in December 1988 at a cliff in North Head [map] near Manly has also attracted a lot of publicity in recent years.
These cases seem very similar but were not linked to each other or attributed to gay bashers at the time. Some were judged as suicides or accidental falls. Sydney's many cliffs are well known suicide locations. Also, Mattaini was not reported missing until 2002.
Police took just four days to conclude Warren fell accidentally into the sea. The Coroner later called that investigation "grossly inadequate and shameful" and concluded Warren was murdered and police now call it a "probable gay-hate crime".
The family of Simon Blair Wark who apparently died after falling from a different cliff, believe police too-quickly dismissed the death as a suicide.
The family of Scott Johnson reject police claims he probably committed suicide.
Buried in the review is the case of William Rooney, who was bashed to death in a lane in Wollongong in 1986. The investigation into Rooney's death seems to have been a perfunctory one, and it remains unsolved. Rooney might have been attacked by a serial rapist who operated in Wollongong in the late 1980s. Someone was convicted of similar crimes at the time, but no one was ever charged for the attack on Rooney.
The cliff deaths/disappearances
David Williams whose naked body was found in the Manly cliff area in 1979, according to friends, although there is no coronial record of his death. His clothes were left neatly folded, according to the former police gay liaison co-ordinator Sue Thompson
Peter Sheil whose body was found - with the fly of his trousers undone - at the base of small cliff at Sydney's Gordons Bay [map] in April 1983. He wasn't gay, and had a mental illness. His family believes he might have been mistaken for being gay and was attacked by gay bashers as he walked home through a gay beat: He wasn't gay, but could Peter have been a gay-hate victim?
Gilles Mattaini who went missing in September 1985. He was last seen walking on the coastal path that follows the cliffs between Bondi and Tamarama
Scott Johnson who fell to his death near Bluefish Point at North Head [map], near Manly. His body was found, naked, on the rocks in December 1988. The original coroner agreed with police and ruled it was a suicide. Johnson's partner reported Scott telling him, about five years earlier, that he had contemplated jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge when he mistakenly feared he was at risk of contracting HIV from a casual sexual encounter. But the boyfriend, at the time Scott died, did not believe he had any reason to kill himself. Nor did the Johnson family. Steve Johnson says there is ample evidence of gay-bashing gangs around Manly and the northern beaches at the time.
Television newsreader Ross Warren who vanished from the Marks Park gay beat at Tamarama in July 1989. Police took four days to conclude Warren accidentally fell into the sea. His body was never recovered
Graham Paynter's body was found on the rocks beneath a 50-metre cliff at Tathra Beach [map] on the New South Wales far south coast in October 1989. Police say Paynter had been drinking heavily with a friend on the day before his body was found. He had been arrested that day for stealing a bottle of rum from a liquor store. Tathra Beach is 451 kilometres from Sydney
gay barman John Russell was found at the base of a cliff on the Bondi side of Marks Park in November 1989. He had a high concentration of alcohol in his blood and police concluded he fell accidentally
Simon Blair Wark was found dead in Sydney Harbour in January 1990. He was a gay man and had taken anti-depressants. Some of Blair's clothing and possessions were found at The Gap, a cliff on Sydney Harbour's South Head [map]. The Gap is an infamous suicide spot. Blair's father informed the coroner that his son had said someone was trying to kill him. Blair's family believe police too-quickly dismissed the death as a suicide, ignoring compelling reasons to investigate it as a potential murder.
There are also a couple of cliff deaths included in the review, that seem more like suicides:
Mark Spanswick was found on rocks at the north end of North Head at Manly in 1976. He had left Australia to join the navy in Auckland, New Zealand, for a short time before he deserted in 1974 - after bullying, according to a family member. Mark Spanswick booked into a Sydney hotel on May 9, 1976, and out on May 11, the day his body was discovered. His father told the coroner Mark was "disenchanted with his life" and that he was familiar with Manly's Fairy Bower area, where the family had holidayed. The family member who contacted Johnson was inclined to believe it was suicide or an accident. The coroner agreed. He made an open finding, satisfied it was not foul play but unable to determine whether it was an accidental fall or suicide. Police now say: "There is no indication the deceased was gay and nothing located in the case file that this matter was a gay-hate motivated crime. Probable misadventure/suicide."
Paul Rath, was found dead in June 1977. A fisherman found his body at the base of a 50-metre cliff, wedged between rocks and in a sitting position, near the Fairy Bower [map] at Manly. Rath's trousers were down, almost around his knees. The young local had been a devout Catholic who worked as a catechist at public schools. A police officer would find Rath's rosary beads near the body, and his father would tell the coroner that Paul liked to go to the cliffs to pray and calm his nerves. Paul had a nervous breakdown as a teenager. He was on medication for his nerves and this affected his balance, so his parents believed he fell accidentally.
Crimes in other locations
Alan Edge who was strangled in his Newcastle flat in October 1977. Newcastle is 163 kilometres north of Sydney
Richard Slater, who was not known to be gay, died after being bashed and robbed at a gay beat in Newcastle West (163 kilometres north of Sydney) in December 1980
Gerald Cuthbert was stabbed 64 times at his friend's Paddington apartment in October 1981. Police say he was known to have "multiple short-term sexual partners" and conclude "there is no evidence that the offence is a gay-hate motivated crime"
William Rooney was bashed to death in a lane in Wollongong (118 kilometres south of Sydney) in 1986. In the review this unsolved case seems to have been treated in a perfunctory way by police due to a mix-up the spelling of his surname. At the time of the crime his partner Wayne Davis learned of it by seeing the injured Rooney being taken away in an ambulance on a TV news report. Davis says that the police response was generally unsympathetic, as if Rooney's death didn't matter because he was gay. Davis was briefly suspected of the crime, but later a detective suggested Rooney fell down a flight of stairs leading to the lane. The extreme nature of the injuries did not suggest an accidental fall and the coroner made an open finding. Some detectives did not believe there was a fall. Some people suspected Rooney was attacked by a serial attacker/rapist operating in the Wollongong area. There is a long section on William Rooney and the Wollongong crimes against gay men, on the SBS Gay Hate Decades site, and here is an SBS news article on the William Rooney case
Raymond Keam was killed in Alison Park, a gay beat at Randwick, in 1987
William Allen died after being bashed near the gay-beat toilets in Alexandria Park, Alexandria, in 1988
John Hughes, believed to be gay, was violently bashed and strangled in his apartment in Potts Point in May 1989. His flatmate was acquitted of the murder
William Dutfield was found in his Mosman apartment in November 1991, bashed to death with a metal tape dispenser. Police now say the main suspect was known to police - and to Dutfield
Cyril Olsen was bashed then fell (missing his trousers and shoes) from Rushcutters Bay marina [map] in 1992. Police immediately identified it as a gay bashing and advised the inquest that such an attack preceded Olsen falling into the harbour and drowning. The coroner, however, concluded Olsen drowned after an accidental fall
Kenneth Brennan was found stabbed to death in a "security unit" (presumably an apartment in a building with a security entrance) at Elizabeth Bay in June 1995. Brennan was last seen alive around 10 pm the previous night at the King Steam Sauna on Oxford Street. Police say "there is evidence that he was involved in a sexual encounter shortly before or at the time he was killed"
Scott Miller's body was found at the base of a "drop" at Millers Point [map] on Sunday 2 March 1997, the day after he watched the Gay Mardi Gras parade with friends. Police say there was evidence he was intoxicated and that he was robbed. He was not gay but might have been mistaken for being gay by a gang prowling in the aftermath of Mardi Gras, though Millers Point isn't a gay area or a beat.
David Rose was found bashed to death in a Kensington apartment in December 1997. Nobody was charged but police believe the main suspect was known to Rose
News articles
Scott Johnson death: It's 'inconceivable' my brother killed himself
New $1 million reward offered over Scott Johnson's gay hate killing at Sydney cliffs
$300k reward to help solve suspected gay hate deaths of John Russell, Ross Warren and Giles Mattaini
'Ugly part of our history': Sydney's wave of gay-hate deaths exposed
Author Duncan McNab hopes one of the gay hate crime gang members finally speaks out
Gay beat to tribute: Bondi's Marks Park to get hate crime memorial
Who will stand up to 'poofter bashers'?: a 2002 article focusing on gay bashings at beats in Melbourne. The attackers were later caught and imprisoned: Two jailed over gang gay bashings
Up to 80 men murdered, 30 cases unsolved
Websites
The police review of the New South Wales crimes: Strike Force Parrabell - NSW Police - NSW Government
The New South Wales crimes are listed on the SBS Gay Hate Decades site which includes a synopsis of each crime, a pointer on the map to where it occurred, and an overview of the police review.
This police review was posted to r/UnresolvedMysteries/ in December 2018, but many commenters seemed to assume that between 30 and 90 men might have been been thrown from a cliff at Bondi Beach. BBC news article Scott Johnson death: It's 'inconceivable' my brother killed himself says "It's now estimated up to 80 gay men were murdered by homophobic gangs in and around Sydney in the late eighties - with many pushed off cliffs." This wording is also a bit misleading. The crimes involve a range of locations and not all happened at gay beats. There are about 12 cases where men died or disappeared from various cliffs around Sydney.
While over 80 crimes were included in the review, many don't seem to have been done by a gang of gay bashers. One unsolved case included in the review, that of Andrew Currie, appeared to be a drug overdose in a park, and Currie was not gay. The death of Samantha Raye, while included in the review, is seen as a likely suicide. Many of the crimes are solved and some are known to not be perpetrated by gay bashers but by people known to the victim who had specific motives.
But various crimes at beats do remain unsolved. This includes several well publicised cliff deaths, and the murder of William Rooney.
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