The man who bludgeoned David McNee until blood sprayed his bedroom has been not guilty of murder by a High Court jury. 24-year-old Phillip Edwards instead will be charged with "manslaughter under provocation", putting him in a long line of killers of gay men who have used the "homosexual panic defence" to reduce or eliminate their own culpability. It has since been revealed that Edwards was a repeat offender. NZ First MP Ron Mark said last night that Edwards had been identified as dangerous and likely to reoffend in a psychological assessment prepared while he served five months of an 18-month jail term last year. He was released from prison on 9 July and killed Mr McNee 11 days later. Mark last night blamed justice system blunders for the TV star's death, while Newstalk ZB blamed McNee himself, in direct opposition to the words of the gay community spokesman interviewed on air. In their 7am bulletin, Newstalk ZB ran the headline "David McNee was a victim of his own appetite for rent boys and casual sexual partners". The only interview subject for the story was Gayline's Neville Creighton, who suggested nothing of the kind, instead expressing disbelief at Edwards' defence that he lost control after sexual advances were made by McNee. He said Edwards could have simply told McNee to stop, but instead he attacked him in a homophobic fury. "I know in other cases guys who accepted those invitations know what the score is, but having a different agenda for themselves... here's an easy guy to roll."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 12th August 2004 - 12:00pm