The man who killed gay Auckland interior decorator David McNee with approximately 40 blows to the head has been sentenced to nine years in prison. Philip Layton Edwards was sentenced in the high court this afternoon with sentencing Justice Marion Frater saying Edwards should serve a minimum of four and a half years without parole. Edwards' lawyers have maintained that Edwards was a troubled young man who attacked McNee after a same-sex sexual encounter went wrong. The hearing judge advised the jury that manslaughter, rather than murder, would be a possible verdict. This comment stirred up anger at the so-called "homosexual panic" defense which has seen other killers found not guilty of murder. During the trial NcNee was repeatedly villified in court and the media as a sexually out of control gay man. In sentencing Edwards Justice Frater said Edwards' ststements of remorse, believed by court observers to not be the verbatim work of Edwards himself, did not appear to be consistent and that he seemed to be more concerned with his own wellbeing. Edwards was living on Auckland streets at the time of the killing just over a year ago, choosing not to live at a relative's address. He has a string of convictions for violence and met McNee at a Karangahape Road venue. McNee took him home for a paid sexual encounter which led to the brutal killing. McNee was left to suffocate in his own vomit while Edwards ransacked his home for valuables and stole McNee's car. Edwards was apprehended days later after boasting of the killing.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 16th September 2004 - 12:00pm