The Episode 29 told of the death of 27 year old Scott Johnson on the 8th of December 1988.

This year after the third coronial inquest into his death, his brother Steve wrote an open letter for the

Sydney Morning Herald. Tonight, I'll your host Cambo, grab a beer and pull up a deck chair. This is Steve Johnson's full letter.

29 years ago my younger brother Scott Johnson's life abruptly and violently came to an end at the bottom of a cliff near Manley. Less than 24 hours later police marked the case

NFA or no further action. When I arrived in Australia from my home in Boston two days later, Manley police

told me that Scott had jumped and they told the local newspaper there was no

suspicious circumstances. It didn't make sense to my family

then or now, but we trusted the police. Years later, we learned that Sydney had been afflicted with a spate of gay hate violence near the time of

Scott's death, including several cliff-side murders. I hope that New South Wales police would respond

to the new evidence and take a fresh look at Scott's case. Instead, police responded with a decade-long campaign to defend their initial

suicide theory and rebuff all others.

On Thursday, New South Wales state coroner Michael Barnes found that Scott Johnson,

a 27-year-old gay man, fell from a cliff top as a result of actual or threatened violence by

unidentified persons who attacked him because they perceived him to be

homosexual. It is time to find those responsible and bring them to justice.

Barnes' inquest for which our family is extremely grateful, provided an emotional front row seat to the breathtaking

prevalence of anti-gay hatred and violence during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Just as disturbing, it demonstrated

the New South Wales Police Forces ongoing reluctance to investigate the deaths of gay men

as possible violent crimes.

The current police review of gay hate murders known as Operation Parabel, which does not include Scott's case, promises little hope the police intend to solve these cases and accept responsibility

for past failures.

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