The central Auckland bar where murdered interior designer David McNee met his alleged killer was a known hangout for gay men and homeless people, a court was told yesterday. 23-year-old Phillip Layton Edwards accompanied Mr McNee in his car after meeting at the Owl Bar, said a witness. It is alleged that they ended up back at Mr McNee's St Mary's Bay home, where Mr Edwards punched Mr McNee in the head until he died, in an attack described by police as “frenzied”. The witness was Martin James Te Amohanga-Nikora, also homeless, and a friend of Mr Edwards. He is currently serving a jail sentence after pleading guilty to being an accessory to the robbery of Mr McNee after the fact. Mr Te Amohanga-Nikora said that Mr Edwards wore Mr McNee's clothes, drank his alcohol, and tried to sell his Audi sports car in the days following the killing on the night of July 20. He allegedly wandered the streets of Auckland singing a song about the manner in which Mr McNee was murdered, involving bashing, strangulation and suffocation.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Tuesday, 9th December 2003 - 12:00pm