A man has been convicted for the 1988 murder of a gay American man in Sydney, Australia, that police initially ruled a suicide.
Scott White was convicted on murder charges by the New South Wales Supreme Court on Thursday after emphatically declaring his guilt multiple times in court on Monday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
White, 50, admitted in court this week that he killed Scott Johnson, an openly gay mathematician, over 30 years ago. White was arrested in 2020 after an anonymous tip led the police to his name.
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Johnson’s brother, Steve Johnson, said at the time of White’s arrest that movement on the case was a step in the right direction “for the dozens of other gay men who lost their lives in the 1980s and 90s, in a world full of anti-gay prejudice and hatred.”
“I think he deserves what he has coming to him,” said Steve Johnson, a millionaire who matched an existing $1 million reward for information, outside the court after White pleaded guilty. “It’s a very sad, tragic thing that he did.”
Scott Johnson, who was 27 in 1988, was found dead at the bottom of a cliff near Manly’s North Head. Several investigations were inconclusive about the cause of Johnson’s death, with the first ruling it a suicide and a 2012 inquest returning inconclusive findings. A 2017 coroner investigation ruled the death as a “gay-hate attack.”
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The 2017 inquest discovered the area where Johnson’s body was found was a meeting spot for both gay men and anti-gay gangs, reversing earlier conclusions from police.
White will be sentenced in May and could face life in prison.
