Scott Johnson - New Inquest

[mike carey]

The NSW State Coroner has ordered a new inquest into the 1988 death of Scott Johnson, a gay American graduate student who was studying at the Australian National University in Canberra. His body was found at the bottom of cliffs near Manly on Sydney's northern beaches shortly after he had successfully completed his PhD thesis in maths. The first inquest in 1989 found his death to have been suicide, and a second inquest in 2012 returned an open finding. His was one of a number of suspicious deaths of gay men in Sydney in the 80s and 90s, a time when there were widespread reports of gay bashings, but police at the time were dismissive of that as a likely cause of Scott's, and others' deaths.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-13/scott-johnson-death-coroner-orders-new-inquest-gay-hate/6388428

[JayCeeKy]

Bringing back an old thread since there appears to be a possible resolution of this 1988 killing of a gay American man in Australia.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/world/australia/scott-johnson-gay-murder.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

 

Kudos to the Aussies for not letting this man's death be forgotten.

[mike carey]

Bringing back an old thread since there appears to be a possible resolution of this 1988 killing of a gay American man in Australia.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/world/australia/scott-johnson-gay-murder.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

 

Kudos to the Aussies for not letting this man's death be forgotten.

Thanks for posting this. I heard about the arrest on the radio this morning and was about to post an update to this thread. I hope that the police can secure a conviction, that would vindicate the time and money Scott's brother devoted to having the original coroner's finding overturned. It's also fitting that the police commissioner personally rang Steve Johnson to convey the news of the arrest.