Gay Gang Murders

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Gay Gang Murders
Tamarama Beach Sydney 2019 03.jpg
Tamarama
Date1970–2010, most active from 1987 to 1999
Duration40 years
LocationMarks Park, Tamarama
Coordinates 33°53′55″S151°16′23″E / 33.8984765°S 151.2730416°E / -33.8984765; 151.2730416
Also known asSydney Cliff Murders
TypeHate crime
CauseAnti-LGBT sentiment
TargetGay and transgender people
Participants
  • The Bondi Boys
  • Alexandria Eight
  • Tamarama Three
  • North Narra Boys
[1]
Outcome
  • Operation Taradale
  • Strike Force Parrabell
  • NSW parliamentary & judicial inquest
Deaths88+
Arrests96 [2] : 33 
Accused
  • Sean Cushman
Convicted
  • Tamarama Three
  • Alexandria Eight
  • Scott White
Convictions80

The Gay Gang Murders [3] [4] are a series of suspected anti-LGBT hate crimes perpetrated by large gangs of youths in Sydney, Australia, between 1970 and 2010, with most occurring in 1989 and 1990. The majority of these occurred at local gay beats, and were known to the police as locations where gangs of teenagers targeted homosexuals [5] and trans individuals. [6] In particular, many deaths are associated with the cliffs of Marks Park, Tamarama, where the victims would allegedly be thrown or herded off the cliffs to their deaths. [7] As many as 88 gay men were murdered by these groups in the period, [8] with many of the deaths unreported, considered accidents or suicides at the time. [9]

Contents

Today, a memorial to the victims is located in Marks Park. [10]

Groups

Alexandria Eight

In 1991, the "Alexandria Eight" were convicted for the murder of Richard Johnson the previous year in a bathroom at Alexandria Park. [11] In a recording taken of the group in the prison, they also bragged of murdering a gay man at the Marks Park cliffs (described as "cliff jumping"). [3] : 32  [11] [12] Though he met resistance from within the force, investigating officer Steve McCann followed up this evidence, eventually learning of the "Bondi Boys". [4]

The Bondi Boys

The Bondi Boys were the largest and most prolific of the groups, constituted of 30 men and women aged between 12 and 18. [3] : 138  They are primarily associated with deaths at Marks Park, [13] and also referred to themselves with the abbreviations PTK and PSK, generally understood to mean "People that Kill" and "Park Side Killers" respectively. [3] : 139  [14] In 1989, David McMahon, a victim who had escaped being thrown from the cliffs, identified Sean Cushman and another person as two members of the group. [15] Neither were charged. [3] : 162  While they attacked McMahon, they allegedly discussed a similar murder committed at the cliffs a month prior, pointing to them also perpetrating the death of John Russell. [13]

When interviewed by Operation Taradale, former members of the Bondi Boys denied that anyone was killed by their group. [16]

Tamarama Three

Three men were convicted for the assault and murder of Kritchikorn Rattanajaturathaporn on the Marks Park cliffs in 1990. [17] [18] [19]

Miscellaneous

A 2017 report by ACON identified two further groups operating in the period, the "North Narra Boys" who focused on North Narrabeen, and an unnamed gang that operated in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and used baseball bats to attack LGBT individuals. [20]

Investigations

Percentage of cases with evidence of bias crime, as determined by Strike Force Parrabell [2] : 24 

  Evidence (9%)
  Suspected (22%)
  Insufficient Information (29%)
  No Evidence (40%)

The murders and bashings that took place during the period were generally considered suicides or disconnected incidents at the time, and subsequently went largely uninvestigated for several decades. [3] Because of this inaction on the part of the police, various "gangs" of anti-LGBT students were able to bash and murder gay men with little interference from authorities. [11] The most notable investigations prior to the formation of "Operation Taradale" were those preceding, and subsequently undertaken after, the arrests of the "Tamarama Three" and "Alexandria Eight". [15]

Operation Taradale

Operation Taradale was the first effort to reinvestigate cases from the period, originating in 2001 when Detective Sergeant Steve Page noticed a similarity between the deaths of Ross Warren and John Russel. [21] : 9  In both cases it had previously been found that the victims accidentally fell to their deaths from the cliffs of Marks Park. [5] In 2005, the final report was delivered to deputy coroner Jacqueline Milledge, [22] who subsequently recategorised the deaths of Warren and Russel as homicides, [23] describing the original investigations as "grossly inadequate" and "shameful". [24] It found that while police at the time were aware of the gangs of teenagers that committed the majority of these crimes, little was done to address the issue and early investigations into these attacks were "inadequate and naive". [5]

Strike Force Parrabell

On 30 August 2015, Strike Force Parrabell was formed by the NSW police to investigate the circumstances of 88 deaths identified by several 2013 news articles [2] : 17  and a 2000 submission to the Australian Institute of Criminology. [2] : 19  [25] The force specifically focused on crimes that took place between 1976 and 2000. [2] : 14  In 2018, the Parrabell report was released, [26] identifying 23 cases between 1976 and 2000 as "unsolved". [27] [28] Of the cases, 61% had insufficient information to determine if it was a "bias crime", and 22% had suspicions of being a "bias crime". [2] : 26 

Parliamentary and judicial inquiry

Following the recommendations of the Parrabell report, a parliamentary inquiry was initiated by the NSW legislative council in 2019. [29] This inquiry expanded the scope to include the period between 1970 and 2010, and delivered its report in February 2021. The report largely focused on analysing the case studies of suspected victims, and of determining the failings in police response at the time. It found that a persistent culture of homophobia and transphobia within the police force had led to many cases of homophobic attacks lacking thorough investigation. [21] : 36 

The final submission of the report led to the formation of a judicial inquiry on 4 November 2021. [30] [31]

Further developments

In 2015, a $100,000 reward was offered by the NSW police for information leading to the culprits behind the murder of Warren, Russel, and Gilles Mattaini. [32] [33]

In 2020, 49 year old Scott White was arrested for the murder of Scott Johnson in 1988. [34] Although he initially pleaded "not guilty" to the charges, [35] in January 2022 White admitted to the murder of Johnson. [36] He was sentenced to 8 years and 3 months in prison later that year in May. [37]

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References

  1. ↑ "In Pursuit of Truth and Justice" (PDF). ACON. 1 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 New South Wales. Police (issuing body) (2018), Strike Force Parrabell : final report , retrieved 6 November 2021
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Davis, Kristen (January 2007). "Bondi's underbelly: the 'gay gang murders". Queer Space: Centres and Peripheries.
  4. 1 2 queerstorian (3 August 2020). "Ross Warren". World Queerstory. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 Operation Taradale (2005). Inquest into the death of John Alan RUSSELL; Inquests into the suspected deaths of Ross Bradlev WARREN & Gilles Jacques MATTAINI (Report).
  6. ↑ "Push for inquiry into gay hate crimes to investigate claims police turned blind eye". ABC News . 9 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "The Gay-Hate Decades: 30 unsolved deaths". SBS . Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Scott Johnson death: Australian man arrested in gay hate killing cold case". BBC News . 12 May 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "Many of Garry's friends disappeared or were killed during dark chapter of Sydney's history". ABC News. 22 October 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  10. ↑ "The Bondi Memorial: Rise". The Bondi Memorial: Rise. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 Feneley, Rick (26 July 2013). "Up to 80 men murdered, 30 cases unsolved". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  12. ↑ "Kill City - Face-to-face with Sydney's gay-bashing gangs". Neighbourhood Paper. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  13. 1 2 Callaghan, Greg (1 October 2021). "'A willingness to write crimes off': on the trail of the Bondi killers". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  14. ↑ "Hate crimes". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 April 2003. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  15. 1 2 "'He'd do it again today': Conversations with the gay-hate network". SBS News. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  16. ↑ Davis, Kristen (1 December 2007). "The 'Bondi Boys'—Un/Australian?". Continuum. 21 (4): 501–510. doi:10.1080/10304310701629938. ISSN   1030-4312. S2CID   144905155.
  17. ↑ Sean Patrick McAuliffe v The Queen( High Court of Australia 1995-06-28). Text
  18. ↑ Brito, Sam de (26 June 2015). "Somebody knows about Bondi hate crimes". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  19. ↑ "Officer sacked over parolee affair". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 October 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  20. ↑ Wotherspoon, Garry (1 May 2017). Gay Hate Crimes in New South Wales from the 1970s (Report). ACON.
  21. 1 2 New South Wales. Parliament. Legislative Council. Standing Committee on Social Issues (1 February 2019). Report No. 52 - Gay and Transgender hate crimes between 1970 and 2010 (PDF) (Report).
  22. ↑ Callaghan, Greg (21 October 2021). "Investigation revealed evil and violence directed at gay men across Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  23. ↑ "In pursuit of truth and justice". www.bondimemorial.com.au. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  24. ↑ "Sydney must share the shame of gay-hate crimes". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  25. ↑ Mouzos, Jenny; Thompson, Sue; Australian Institute of Criminology (2000), Gay-hate related homicides : an overview of major findings in New South Wales / Jenny Mouzos and Sue Thompson, Australian Institute of Criminology
  26. ↑ "Strike Force Parrabell - NSW Police Public Site". www.police.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  27. ↑ "Gay-hate bias 'almost impossible' to identify, police taskforce finds". ABC News. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  28. ↑ Innis, Michelle (30 January 2017). "When Gangs Killed Gay Men for Sport: Australia Reviews 88 Deaths". New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  29. ↑ "Gay and Transgender hate crimes between 1970 and 2010 - 57th Parliament". www.parliament.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  30. ↑ "Suspected murders of Sydney gay men at centre of inquiry into brutal hate crimes". ABC News. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  31. ↑ "NSW LGBTIQ+ hate crimes inquiry welcomed by survivors and advocates". SBS News. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  32. ↑ Feneley, Rick (22 June 2015). "$100,000 rewards to find 1980s 'gay hate' killers of Ross Warren, John Russell and Gilles Mataini". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  33. ↑ "Reward offered to resolve gay men's deaths". Nine News . 23 June 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  34. ↑ "Man charged with cold case murder talked about case, neighbour says". ABC News. 11 May 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  35. ↑ "Man pleads not guilty to alleged gay hate murder of Scott Johnson". ABC News. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  36. ↑ "Scott White admits to murdering Scott Johnson, solving one of Sydney's longest-running gay hate crimes". ABC News. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  37. ↑ Noyes, Jenny (3 May 2022). "Scott White sentenced to 12 years jail for 1988 murder of Scott Johnson". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
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