An Australian man who admitted punching a gay American down a cliff in 1988 and killing him has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
In Sydney, 52-year-old Scott Phillip White admitted to killing Scott Johnson, who was born in Los Angeles.
In the last year, he admitted to killing the 27-year-old and was given a sentence of more than 12 years in prison.
But he then changed his mind, and an appeal has now resulted in the murder conviction being overturned.
Having already served part of his sentence, White will be eligible for release on parole in 2026.
‘Not much is known of the death beyond a punch on a cliff, a fall from a cliff and decades of pain and grief that followed,’ Justice Robert Beech-Jones said during sentencing on Thursday.
On December 10 1988, White met Mr Johnson at a pub and the pair went for a walk around North Head, which was known at the time to be a popular area among gay people.
White, then 18, punched Mr Johnson during a row, causing naked Mr Johnson to stagger backwards and fall to his death.
Mr Johnson was close to receiving his doctorate from the Australian National University, which he has since been awarded posthumously.
‘Dr Johnson was an American citizen… He had everything to live for,’ the judge said.
‘The offender left him to die.’
White, who has early onset dementia due to alcohol abuse, was described as a ‘street kid’ at the time of the killing.
‘The offender was clearly a damaged albeit physically powerful young man,’ Mr Beech-Jones said.
‘However, he was not broken as he is now.’
The death was originally thought to be a suicide but police in 2012 opened an investigation into what they suspected was a gay hate crime.
In her now-overturned judgment on the murder conviction, Justice Helen Wilson found there was not enough evidence to show the attack was motivated by Mr Johnson’s sexuality.
Mr Beech-Jones said he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the crime was a ‘gay hate crime’.
‘Answers to numerous other questions about how he died, why he died and what happened … some of those answers will never be provided,’ he said.