Advances by intellectually disabled man cost his life

GERARD FLEMING had met other men at gay beats on the northern beaches, but the intellectually disabled man's advances towards a teenage boy in the Narrabeen public toilets known as "the tram shed" cost him his life, a court has been told.

A teenager pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court yesterday to murdering Mr Fleming.

The Crown prosecutor, Margaret Cunneen, SC, told the jury that the two had shared some beer while sheltering in the toilets on a rainy night in June last year. Mr Fleming, who suffered from a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome, had gone to the area, which was known by locals as a place frequented by homosexual men, after spending the night with friends, while the teenager had been to some parties.

HE was a grown man, but Gerard Fleming's autistic disorder meant he behaved "like a child in many ways", a court heard yesterday.

On the last night of his life, he visited a lolly shop and planned to watch Stuart Little - but instead met a violent end.

Mr Fleming, 35, was allegedly murdered by a 16-year-old schoolboy he met near his Narrabeen, New South Wales home.

Stabbed twice, he was found bleeding and calling for help at a bus stop on June 16 last year.

The schoolboy allegedly told a friend that night: "Some guy tried to grab me so I stabbed him."