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Schoolboy beat killer "not homophobic"
Written by Iain Clacher   
NarrabeenA schoolboy who stabbed an autistic gay man to death at a Sydney beat was “not homophobic” according to a judge who sentenced him to jail last week.

The 18 year old may serve as little as three-and-a-half years in prison for the manslaughter of Gerard Fleming at Narrabeen last June.

The court had heard Fleming, 35, and the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were sharing a beer at a Narrabeen toilet block while sheltering from a storm.

Fleming, a “gentle, childlike man” with Asperger’s Syndrome later approached the youth with his trousers down and attempted to hug him.

NSW Supreme Court justice David Kirby said the killing was the result of a failure of communication.

"He feared that he may be raped or sexually assaulted," Kirby told the court as he handed down the sentence.

"He says, and I accept, he is not homophobic.

"(Mr Fleming) was by all accounts a gentle and child-like man who was utterly benign. This was in every sense a tragedy arising out of a failure to communicate.

"(It was) the product of immaturity as well as his decision to carry a knife," Kirby said.

The youth had said he was unaware the toilet block was used as a beat.

The boy’s lawyer, Keith Chapple SC, told reporters his client will not appeal against the seven year jail sentence.

“He just wants to move on,” Chapple said.

"He's still very upset about Mr Fleming's death. He feels very sorry for his family and also his own family.

"It's a very tragic case and it always will be," he added.

The youth will be eligible for parole in January 2011.

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