He went over the edge,” White said in a recorded police interview in 2020 that was played in court Monday. HANDOUT/NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE/AFP via Getty Images Scott White after his arrest for the 1988 murder of Scott Johnson. Scott Johnson was killed at a popular gay hookup site in 1988 by Scott White who initially claimed that he tried to prevent the man’s death. White faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced by Justice Helen Wilson on Tuesday. Johnson’s death by fall was initially dismissed by the Sydney police as suicide. He said the gravity of the murder was significantly elevated because it was motivated by the victim’s sexuality. White had met Johnson in a bar in suburban Manly and Johnson had stripped naked at the clifftop before he died, Hatfield said. Prosecutor Brett Hatfield said the precise details of the murder were not known and that White’s accounts had varied. The victim was a Los Angeles native who was working on a doctorate in mathematics at Australian National University and living in Canberra at the time. Scott White, 51, appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in January to the murder of 27-year-old Scott Johnson in Sydney. Stranger randomly punches Asian woman in caught-on-camera NYC attackĪccused racist indicted on hate crime charges in NYC subway hammer attackĪn Australian man confessed to the police that he murdered a gay American mathematician in 1988 by pushing him off a cliff in what prosecutors described as a hate crime, a court heard Monday. ‘You look Russian’: Ukrainian man stabbed in Brooklyn bar brawl All rights reserved.Jerry Nadler is insulting his Asian-American constituents by supporting gerrymandering reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modification to the contents on the Website at any time without prior notice.Ĭopyright © 2013-2022. In no event shall be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Website or the contents of the Website. Accordingly, to the extent permitted by applicable law, we exclude all express or implied warranties, terms and conditions including, but not limited to, implied warranties of content, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Terms of service: You agree that you are making use of our services at your own risk, and that they are being provided to you on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. We do our best to delete links to inappropriate content expeditiously, when it is reported.