Zainal was found in Darlinghurst in November 2003 after being stabbed at least 10 times in the neck, and died soon afterwards. Imbrisak has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the stabbing killing of a man in Marrickville in December 2003. He remains in custody and is due to face sentencing next year.
The following item was reported in MCV 0n 7 January 2007:
An Adelaide man who murdered his wife last March (2006) after learning she planned to leave him for another woman has been sentenced to a 17 year jail term.
Kylie Kilsby was stabbed three times while the couple's two children, boys aged two and four, were playing in a nearby room.
Kilsby and his wife had met another couple for sex in November 2005.
Mrs Kilsby fell in love with the woman, who subsequently left her husband, and the two planned to start a relationship.
"The hurt and upset of the break-up of a relationship can never be an excuse for violence," Justice Michael David said at Kilsby's sentencing on 22 December (2006).
From the Sydney Star Observer:
Blacktown Police have refuted claims homophobia played a part in the investigation of a gay bashing.
Local Area Commander Supt Mark Wright denied any mismanagement in the case of Aaron Warnecke and Greg Harland — a couple attacked with metal poles in May.
“I would strenuously deny any suggestion that this investigation has been treated differently because of the sexual preference of those injured. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Wright said.
“As is often the case in these types of investigations, we are dealing with a variety of different versions and conflicting information, which always makes an investigation more difficult.
“The most important consideration for police is to ensure our investigations and our briefs of evidence are as complete as possible. We want to get this right and not face a situation where an offender could walk free because of a rushed or incomplete investigation.
“With this in mind, my investigations manager is reviewing the investigation and seeking legal advice.”
Warnecke and Harland now have an interim AVO in place and will return to Blacktown Court for a final AVO hearing on September 14.
They said relations with the police had improved since they went public.
“Since the article, [the police] have done a whole 180,” Harland said. “Even with their phone manner, they’re really pleasant — they’re not just barking ‘give me the event number’ and making me explain the whole story over and over. They’re being helpful.”
The couple’s story saw a community outcry and offers of assistance.
The Homicide Survivors Association offered to act as a liaison between the victims and police. Former Blacktown councillor John Allen has offered to raise the issue with the council.
“This is not just about a couple of fairy guys, this is an issue of safety,” Allen told Sydney Star Observer.
“Blacktown is the largest local government area of NSW, there’s close to 300,000 people.
That then means, just on the stats, there is a very high gay and lesbian population. So to have one liaison officer based in Quakers Hill, of all places, is questionable.”
NSW Police GLBT spokeswoman Donna Adney said the state would see an increase in GLLOs.
“There is a GLLO course in November which should result in about 25 new GLLOs being trained,” she said.
NSW Police Minister Tony Kelly has been made aware of the case, although he declined to comment before the investigation was finished.
This report was in MCV:
Two men who bashed another man to death in Maryborough, Queensland, have successfully used ‘gay panic defence’ to avoid murder convictions.
As reported in MCV 458, the men – Jason Pearce, 38, and Richard Meerdink, 40 – had been charged with murdering 45-year-old Wayne Ruks on July 3 2008 in the grounds of St Mary’s Catholic Church.
On the night of the crime, the men had been drinking cask wine together in the church grounds before events took a violent turn.
Pearce and Meerdink were subsequently charged with murder, however Pearce said Ruks had made sexual advances towards him, and Meerdink claimed he was “trying to help my mate [defend himself]”, in arguments accepted by a Maryborough Supreme Court jury, the Fraser Coast Chronicle reported.
The men had their murder charges successfully commuted from murder to manslaughter, the Chronicle said, with sentencing adjourned to an unspecified date.
The decision has outraged gay activists and other community members.
Father Paul Kelly, Roman Catholic parish priest of Maryborough, said the “alarming” ruling could incite hate crimes.
“What I’m worried about is that people will go, ‘Oh, he made homosexual advances toward them and that’s why they bashed him’ as if that was grounds for what they did,” he said.
Gay activist John Frame told MCV that if a heterosexual woman had killed a straight man because of an unwanted sexual advance, the outcome would have been different.
Dr Shirleene Robinson, editor of Homophobia: An Australian History, said she was “horrified” that gay panic defence could be invoked in 2009.
GAY, LESBIAN AND TRANSGENDER HATE CRIMES - BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RECOMMENDED READING LIST