Wed 12 Oct 2011 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
12.00PM: A Counties-Manukau police officer has told the High Court in Auckland that an intoxicated teenage murder-accused denied killing anyone, when he was being taken in for detox on the night of the stabbing. Willie Ahsee, 17, is on trial for the murder of 59-year-old gay man Denis Phillips, who he stabbed in his Papakura home on 30 July. The night of the stabbing the accused's neighbours heard someone screaming "I've killed someone" and smashing windows, so called police. One of the first officers who responded to the call was Constable Matthew Horscroft, who told the court he noticed broken windows and blood on the floor at Ahsee's family home. Police decided they would take Ahsee in for detox and when he was in the back of the patrol car Constable Horscroft opened the car door and said "Willie, someone over the road told me that you killed someone, did you kill someone tonight?" The officer told the court Ahsee replied “nah” and when he asked him again and he shrugged his shoulders. However the next morning Ahsee returned to the Manukau Police Station with his mother and two other family members and told a detective he thought he had stabbed someone. Detective Constable Allan Nixon told the court the teenager told him he had "stabbed a guy in Papakura", but didn't know his name and couldn't recall the exact address, just that his house was near the Papakura baseball fields. The detective said Ahsee told him he the man was his ‘boxing trainer’ and he had stabbed him in the chest, adding "he was in the hallway when I last saw him". Ahsee and his mother then went with police to Phillips' house where the 59-year-old’s body was found in the hallway of his flat. Detective Constable Nixon says when he advised Ahsee and his mother a dead man had been found in the house, both started to cry. The teenager was then taken back to the police station for a full interview. GayNZ.com's in-court coverage will continue throughout each day of the trial.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 12th October 2011 - 12:03pm