THE murder of 69-year-old Richard Slater at a Newcastle 'beat' in 1980 may have been a gay hate crime, even though Mr Slater may not have been gay.
The homicide is one of many unsolved deaths subject to the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes which opened on Wednesday.
In his opening address, Counsel Assisting Peter Gray SC said that so far as has been ascertained , the commission is the first of its kind anywhere in the world.
"All of the deaths with which this Inquiry is concerned, many of them lonely and terrifying, were of people whose lives were tragically cut short," Mr Gray said.
"Many had also suffered discrimination or worse while alive. Some of the deaths were obviously murders, others may well have been.
"The response of the community, of society, of its institutions, to these deaths was sadly lacking.
"All these lives, of every one of these people, mattered. They mattered to them, to their loved ones, and ultimately to all of us. And their deaths matter.
"This special commission, by shining a light on everything that is known and can be found out about what happened, will aim to provide some recognition of the truth."
Mr Slater died on December 22, 1980, at Newcastle Hospital, from head injuries inflicted on him three days earlier at a toilet block in Birdwood Park, Newcastle.
"It is possible that this is one of those cases where a person is assaulted on the assumption that the person is gay, even though in fact that may not be so" Mr Gray said.
Mr Slater was married, had a daughter and grandchildren, and had lived in Newcastle for 25 years. On the day he was assaulted, he had driven into town to do some shopping. He stopped to use the public toilet in Birdwood Park, which was known to be used as a beat, and was assaulted. He was later found semi-conscious.
Police who investigated his death found that he had a prostate condition which meant that he needed to urinate frequently.
While police identified a suspected perpetrator, who some two years later was charged with Mr Slater's murder, that charge was later the subject of a "no bill" and did not go to trial.
The accused was a man whose associates regarded as someone known to engage in sex with men himself, and also to have assaulted gay men on other occasions, including at toilet blocks, sometimes with the intention of robbing them.
Mr Slater's money purse, containing $30 for his shopping, was stolen during the course of the assault.
NSW police strike force Strike Force Parrabell, which released a report in 2018, assigned Mr Slater's homicide to the "no evidence of bias crime" category.
Other Newcastle crimes which the commission will address occurred at Centennial Park in Cooks Hill; Birdwood Park, Newcastle West; Islington Bowling Club, Islington; and the Parkview Hotel, at Islington.
Identifying and tracing family members for many of the cases being reviewed has been "no simple task", Mr Gray said.
"We are well aware that we have not yet been able to reach everyone who may wish to speak about the death or disappearance of a loved one," he said.
Friends and family members of people whose unsolved death or disappearance maybe under review by the commission were invited to contact the commission, along with anyone with information about a person suspected to have been murdered in NSW between 1970 and 2010 "for reason of their sexual or gender identity, or presumed sexual or gender identity".
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