The man accused of bashing David McNee to death was released from prison only two weeks before the killing, a jury has been told. 24-year-old Phillip Edwards is on trial for the murder of television personality McNee, whom he punched in the face up to 50 times and left to choke to death on his own blood and vomit in July last year, after McNee picked him up on K Rd. In a videotaped interview with police eight days after the murder, Edwards said he was released from prison in Hawkes Bay and came to Auckland on July 9 for a fresh start. Edwards said he was supposed to live with an aunt in Mt Albert but ended up living on the streets of central Auckland. Edwards stole McNee's car after the killing and went joyriding for two days in it, the jury heard. He also made up a rap about the killing: "Combinations to strangulations ending in suffocation." Edwards' defence is claiming the "homosexual panic" defence – he only attacked McNee because of the sexual advances made in McNee's bedroom.