Australian cliff killer gets 9 years in prison for 1988 murder of gay American student
An Australian man accused of killing a gay American student in Sydney 35 years ago has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Scott Phillip White, 52, was first arrested in 2020 in connection with the decades-old murder of Scott Johnson, a 27-year-old student from Los Angeles.
Johnson, who was openly gay, was in Australia pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics at Australian National University. Police say he fell to his death from a cliff near Manly’s North Head near Sydney. His naked body was found at Blue Fish Point, at the foot of a hill considered a popular gay hangout spot.
White, who initially maintained his innocence, surprised his legal team during a pre-trial hearing in early 2022 when he told the court he was guilty of killing Johnson. His lawyers argued he wasn’t fit to make the admission and tried to withdraw the plea.
A judge rejected their attempt and sentenced White to 12 years and 10 months behind bars.
During testimony, the suspect’s former wife, Helen White, told the court she had heard White “brag” about “bashing poofters,” an offensive term for gay men, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Last November, an appeals court ruled that White, who has an intellectual disability, should have been allowed to reverse his guilty plea. That decision led to a new trial, in which White pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
He admitted to killing Johnson by punching him off a cliff in Sydney.
On Thursday, Justice Robert Beech-Jones sentenced White to nine years in prison with a non-parole period of six years.
“Not much is known of the death beyond a punch on a cliff, a fall from a cliff and decades of pain and grief that followed,” the judge said during sentencing.
“The offender was clearly a damaged albeit physically powerful young man,” he said of White, who was described as a “street kid” at the time of the killing, and who has been diagnosed with early onset dementia due to alcohol abuse.
“However, he was not broken as he is now,” the judge said, adding the he couldn’t be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Johnson’s killing was a “gay hate crime.”
With News Wire Services
