She said Dr Johnson and White could have possibly met for a sexual encounter before the murder, but there was no evidence before the court that explained the full facts surrounding the circumstances of the murder. He travelled to Sydney once a week for university and seminars. “We used to go poofter bashing … my brother did,” White told police.Īt the time of his death Scott Johnson was living in Canberra with his partner Michael Noone. White, a father of six, said his sexuality was his biggest secret “cause my brother hates gays … my family hates gays”. When police spoke to White in March 2020 he denied targeting gay men and said “no I’m gay myself”, court documents state. “He said ‘the only good poofter is a dead poofter’,” Mrs White told the court. She told the NSW Supreme Court on Monday that White often bragged about bashing gay men and referred to Dr Johnson as a “girly looking poofter”. Police interviewed White in 2020 after his ex-wife Helen tipped off authorities. It wasn’t until 2017 that an inquest found that Dr Johnson died as the result of an act of another person.
Police initially believed Dr Johnson took his own life and the case went cold for decades despite his family advocating for further investigation and multiple inquests being held. Detective Sergeant John Breda, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans and Detective Senior Constable Tim Carey arrested Scott Phillip White.
