![naked gay men in the shower naked gay men in the shower](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/01/28/realestate/28ASK/28ASK-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.jpg)
His Boston-based brother Steve Johnson maintained pressure for further investigation and offered his own reward of 1 million Australian dollars ($704,000) for information. White was charged in 2020 and police say the reward will likely be collected. White’s former wife Helen White told the court that her then-husband “bragged” to their children of beating gay men at the clifftop well-known for gay meetups. Helen White said she read a newspaper report in 2008 about Johnson’s death and asked her husband if he was responsible. “The dumb (expletive) ran off the cliff.” “It’s not my fault,” Scott White allegedly replied. “I said, ‘It is if you chased him,’” Helen White told the court. Under cross-examination, Helen White denied she had been aware of a AU$1 million reward for information on Johnson’s murder when she reported her former husband to police in 2019. She said she only became aware of a reward when the victim’s brother, Steve Johnson, doubled the sum in 2020. Steve Johnson said in his victim impact statement that, “With a vicious push, Mr. “This man (Scott Johnson) who once told me he could never hurt someone even in self-defense died in terror,” the brother added. Steve Johnson said he appreciated White’s guilty plea. “If he had turned himself in after his violent action, I would have had a little more sympathy. If he had grasped Scott’s hand and pulled him to safety, I would owe him everlasting gratitude,” the brother said, his voice choked with emotion. Rebecca Johnson, a younger sister, said the police report of suicide “made no sense.” Rosemarie Johnson described the initial police failure to investigate Scott Johnson’s death as “indefensible and inhumane.” Scott Johnson’s sisters Terry and Rebecca Johnson, his partner Michael Noone and Steve Johnson’s wife Rosemarie Johnson also gave victim impact statements.
![naked gay men in the shower naked gay men in the shower](https://live.staticflickr.com/8736/16672874280_7d81b936a6_b.jpg)
“How could a community fail so spectacularly that they created boys capable of such horror?” she asked, referring to media reports of gay beatings in Sydney being described as a sport. Prosecutor Brett Hatfield said the precise details of the murder were not known and that White’s accounts had varied. White had met Johnson in a nearby bar in suburban Manly and Johnson had stripped naked at the clifftop before he died, Hatfield said. He said the gravity of the murder was significantly elevated because it was motivated by the victim’s sexuality. White’s lawyer Belinda Rigg said her client was gay and had been concerned that his homophobic brother would find out. In January, White yelled repeatedly in court during a pre-trial hearing that he was guilty, having previously denied the crime. His lawyers will appeal that plea in the Court of Criminal Appeals and hope he will be acquitted at trial.