Sydney Gay Hate Crime Inquiry Will Hold First Sitting On November 2
Image: Victims of gay hate crimes in Sydney (from left to right) Scott Johnson, Ross Warren and Gilles Mattaini.
The Special Commission of Inquiry into historical hate crimes against gay and trans persons in Sydney and NSW is scheduled to hold its first public sitting on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.
The inquiry, headed by Justice John Sackar, will look into the “manner and cause” of unsolved deaths of LGBTQI persons, including the 88 unsolved suspected hate crime deaths, that occurred between 1970 and 2010 in New South Wales and were “potentially motivated by gay hate bias”.
Trigger Warning: This story discusses anti-LGBTQI hate crimes, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.
“For the last five months, a team of independent barristers, solicitors and investigators have been combing through more than a hundred thousand documents drawn from 40 years of police files, coronial files, and other sources in relation to LGBTIQ hate-related deaths. The Inquiry is also pursuing a range of other avenues relating to these homicides,” the Special Commission said in a statement.
The opening of Inquiry will be live-streamed on the Special Commission’s website.
For Too Long These Deaths Have Remained Unresolved
The first sitting on November 2, 2022, will not have any appearances, evidence or testimony from victims or their families. According to the Special Commission, “senior counsel Assisting Peter Gray will outline the scope of the Inquiry under the terms of reference, as well as highlight the work that has been done so far and explain the next steps for the Inquiry in progressing its work.”
Justice Sackar is expected to deliver his final report to the Governor on or before June 30, 2023.
A bipartisan NSW Parliamentary committee had in May 2021 recommended the setting up of the judicial inquiry. “For too long these deaths have remained unresolved and unanswered for, leaving a hole in the lives of victims’ families and loved ones. The committee believes that now is the time to act before the receding window of opportunity to obtain evidence relating to these decades old crimes closes,” the panel had said.
The committee had found that the NSW Police Force had failed in its duty to properly investigate hate crimes against gay and transgender communities. Many of the hate crime deaths were reported to have occurred between 1970 and 2010.
Recently, the police role in some of the gay bashings have also come to light. Last month, former NSW police officer Mark Higginbotham had come forward to reveal that he had witnessed his colleagues bashing gay men in an organised manner in Sydney in the 1980s.
Gay Hate Bias
New South Wales Police Force’s Strike Force “Parrabell” had investigated around 88 deaths between 1970 and 2010 and in its 2018 report had found evidence of gay hate bias.
Among the deaths that the Special Commission will look into includes that of Ross Warren, a news presenter from Wollongong, who was last seen driving along Oxford Street, Sydney’s iconic gaybourhood on July 22, 1989. Two days later his keys were found on the rocks below the cliffs at Marks Park in Tamarama.
His body was never found like that of Gilles Mattaini, a French national living in Bondi, who was last seen by a neighbour near Marks Park in September 1985. Marks Park was a well known gay beat in Sydney.
The murder of Wendy Wayne Brennan, a transgender drag performer, who was found dead in her Darlinghurst Road apartment in April 1985, was never solved too. Wendy was hit over the head with a heavy object and shot twice in the head.
The families of two men who died in the 1980s near gay beats, finally got some justice in the last two years. A NSW court in May 2022, convicted Sydney resident Scott White (51) for the death of 27-year-old gay American mathematician Scott Johnson, whose body was found at the base of a cliff on Sydney’s northern beaches on December 10, 1988.
In August 2021, Stanley Early , a 76-year-old Melbourne man, was charged for the suspected “gay hate” murder of Raymond Keam in a Sydney Park in 1987.
If you have any information about the anti-gay and anti-trans hate crimes that occured between 1970 and 2010 in NSW, you can contact:
-
-
Email [email protected]
-
write to The Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes, GPO Box 5341, Sydney NSW 2001.
If you feel distressed reading the story, you can reach out to support services.
For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14
For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.
