Police initially failed to investigate the disappearance of Wollongong newsreader Ross Warren and detectives later sought to overturn a coroner's finding that he died of homicide, an inquiry has heard.
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His case came before the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes on Thursday.
Senior counsel assisting the inquiry, Peter Gray, said the "evidence... is sufficient to establish his death was a gay hate crime".
The 25-year-old was reported missing on the afternoon of July 23, 1989 - the day after a friend last saw him driving east from Oxford Street in Sydney about 2am.
Friends discovered his car and keys near the cliffs at Marks Park between Bondi and Tamarama, a 'gay beat' he was known to visit.
On July 26, the Daily Telegraph reported there were fears Mr Warren had been murdered, but two days later the officer-in-charge at Paddington, Detective Sergeant Kenneth Bowditch, wrote that investigating police believed he had fallen into the ocean and his body would surface "in the near future".
Counsel said police did not look into the possibility of homicide and Mr Gray told the inquiry that there was no evidence that any steps were taken after July 28, despite DS Bowditch's later claims.
Mr Gray said that had the matter been investigated by Bondi detectives (in whose area the crime scene was located), a link between the cases might have been made when another gay man, John Russell, died at the same location four months later.
Instead it remained with DS Bowditch, he said, who "within a matter of days ceased doing whatever little he may have done".
Operation Taradale was established in 2000 after DS Stephen Page received a file on Mr Warren, including a series of letters from his mother Kay requesting further inquiries so a death certificate could be issued.
DS Page found another officer, DS Steve McCann, in 1991 reported links between violent and sometimes fatal attacks on gay men in Sydney - including the disappearance of Mr Warren and the death of Mr Russell.
The detective also found connections between gangs operating at that time in the Bondi-Tamarama area, and he concluded Mr Warren likely died as a result of violence at Marks Park.
Operation Taradale - which also examined Mr Russell's death and another attack - led to an inquest and in 2005 deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge found Mr Warren was "a victim of homicide perpetrated by person or persons unknown".
In 2012, Detective Senior Constable Alicia Taylor from the Unsolved Homicide Team recommended an undercover operation targeting persons of interest, but no action was taken.
Three years later Strike Force Neiwand was established to investigate the deaths of Mr Warren, Mr Russell and another man who had gone missing in the Bondi area, Gilles Mattaini, but counsel assisting the inquiry submitted it was instead aimed at discrediting Operation Taradale and Ms Milledge findings.
The strike force concluded the operation relied on "investigation confirmation bias" which had "limited the validity of the coroner's findings", and Mr Warren's cause and manner of death were "undetermined".
But Mr Gray noted earlier evidence from supervisor DS Steven Morgan that the strike force had not uncovered any important new evidence.
He said Neiwand had access to a "very large mountain of evidence" about the frequency of attacks on gay men in the Marks Park area, and did not pursue persons of interest.
"Our submission... is that Neiwand had no proper basis and no reasonable basis for contradicting the coronial findings of Coroner Milledge in any way," Mr Gray said.
The inquiry also heard that the Forensic and Analytical Science Service have recommended no further DNA testing in relation to Mr Warren's case and expert reports could offer no certainty as to what would have happened to his body once it entered the water.
Mr Warren was a well-known newsreader and weatherman for WIN at the time of his death, and often visited Sydney on weekends.
"He was known as a very friendly and good-natured person, with a wicked sense of humour," Mr Gray said.
The inquiry heard evidence about Mr Warren's case in conjunction with those of Mr Russell, whose body was found at the base of the cliffs at Marks Park four months after Mr Warren's disappearance, and Mr Mattaini, who was last seen walking at Bondi four years prior.
Commissioner John Sackar is due to deliver his final report by August 30.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
