Denis Phillips Seventeen-year-old Willie Ahsee will this morning be sentenced for the manslaughter of Denis Phillips, a 59-year-old gay man he stabbed in his Papakura home in July 2010. Phillips was a temporary non-sworn police officer who was painted by both the Crown and defence as having a "liking" for young men during the trial at the High Court in Auckland, where a jury found Ahsee not guilty of murder. The stabbing came after the pair had been drinking in Phillips' home after a workout session. Ahsee gave evidence Phillips had touched his thigh trying to get to his "nut" that night, before touching his ear. He said both times he batted Phillips' hand away. In giving evidence he said he was extremely drunk and had blank spots from the night, and only grabbed a knife after being somehow knocked over in the kitchen as Phillips shouted at him. Ahsee said he just wanted to get out of the house and go home, but a fight ensued and he stabbed Phillips a total of four times in the upper body, with the initial stab wound Phillips' suffered in the kitchen proving fatal.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 15th December 2011 - 8:00am