‘Lonely and terrifying’: Gay hate deaths revisited

27-year-old Paul Rath was found to have accidentally fallen to his death from cliffs in Manly in 1977 but 45 years later an inquiry is set to throw that into question.

27-year-old Paul Rath was found to have accidentally fallen to his death from cliffs in Manly in 1977 but 45 years later an inquiry is set to throw that into question.

A coronial inquest ruled that Paul Rath accidentally fell to his death from cliffs near North Head in Manly in 1977 but 45 years later a special commission into gay hate crimes is set to throw that verdict into question.

Senior Counsel assisting Peter Gray SC opened the first public hearing of the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes by acknowledging many of the unsolved deaths were “lonely and terrifying”.

The new "world-first" inquiry will independently investigate deaths suspected of having a gay hate element from 1970 to 2010.

“The response of the community, of society, of its institutions, to these deaths was sadly lacking. All of these lives, every one of these people, mattered. They mattered to them, to their loved ones and ultimately to all of us, and their deaths matter,” he said.

“(We) will aim to provide some recognition of the truth.”

North Head, Manly. Picture: Toby Zerna

Mr Wrath’s body was found at 7.20am on Thursday, 16 June 1977.

He was a religious man who often attended a church gathering on Wednesday evenings, the inquiry heard. 

He had recently suffered a nervous breakdown, according to his father, but in the months before his death his treating psychiatrist said he going well and not showing any suicidal tendencies.

The area near the top of the cliffs where Mr Rath’s body was found, was a well-known gay beat. 

Scott Johnson.

The body of Scott Johnson’s was also discovered at the base of the cliffs at North Head in 1988.

Scott Phillip White, 52, was charged with his murder and ultimately pleaded guilty after strongly denying the “gay bashing” when he exclaimed at a pre-trial hearing in January “guilty, I’m guilty”.

He now wants to take back his guilty plea arguing it was “a plea of convenience”. The case remains before the Court of Criminal Appeal. 

The bodies of other men suspected of being murdered were also found at the cliffs, and it is now known a gang of youths targeted gay men for assault and robbery in that area years afterwards. 

Manly Police said there was no foul play involved in Mr Rath’s death. A “brief coronial invest” three months after his death found he had accidentally fallen. When Strike Force Parrabell put out its 2018 report into 88 suspected gay hate deaths between 1976 and 2000, it assigned Mr Rath’s death to the “no evidence of a biased crime” category. 

But Mr Gray said evidence will be put before the special commission which may give reason to doubt that including that Mr Rath’s body was found in a crouching position neatly wedged in some rocks 20 metres or so from the base of the cliff near North Head in Manly.

Mr Gray also referred to the “nature of some of his injuries” but did not elaborate.

The new inquiry will likely probe up to 30 unsolved cases that had not been independently reinvestigated, as well as 25 deaths which were the subject of previous inquiries but remain unsolved.

The Special Commission into LGBTIQ hate crimes has already scoured a list of all the 700 unsolved homicides in NSW between 1970 and 2010, the 559 missing persons cases in the same period, and news articles from archived LGBTIQ publications such as the Sydney Star Observer to discover the 30 potential unsolved cases.

Mr Gray described the often violent deaths of a number of gay men and trans women whose deaths had been assigned by Strike Force Parrabell as having no evidence or not have enough evidence to established a biased hate crime.

The hearing will resume on November 21.