Jeff Whittington
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Jeff Whittington (February 2, 1985–May 8, 1999) was a gay teenager who was murdered by two men in an anti-gay hate crime in Wellington, New Zealand, prompting shock in the city. He was beaten by Jason Morris Meads and Stephen Smith, suffering severe facial injuries and a perforated bowel. After being taken to the hospital, he died of brain swelling.
[edit] Death
Meads and Smith picked him up outside the shell petrol station of Vivian St in Wellington New Zealand offering him a ride home. Instead they drove him to Inverlochy Place on the pretext of smoking a joint, in court they claimed that they attacked him because he had spilt some beer in their car.
The assault by Meads and Smith caused severe facial and head injuries and a perforated bowel, he later died of brain swelling.
Afterwards Meads and Smith went to the Kensington Inn, where they hired two prostitutes to return home with them and continue drinking.
A witness at the house later testified that they had said they had "fucked up a faggot and left him for dead" and that Meads had said "the faggot was bleeding out of places I have never seen before" whilst Smith laughed.
After reading in the Wellington Domimion that their victim was 14 both Meads and Smith turned themselves in, both stated that they had believed Whittington to be 20.
They were tried for murder, with the defense counsel arguing for manslaughter. The Jury ruled that Meads and Smiths actions were murder and they both received compulsory life sentences (which at the time meant ten years in jail without parole). Meads and Smith appealed the sentence but their appeal was dismissed by the court of appeal in 2000.
