A 16-year-old boy will appear in court tomorrow charged with the murder of an off-duty police officer.
Police found the body of 59-year-old Denis Norman Phillips at his home in Green St, Papakura, about 11am yesterday.
“It is with great sorrow that I advise that that man is a member of our staff,” Counties Manukau police district commander Superintendent Mike Bush told a media conference.
“He is a temporary sworn officer and he has been working with us for 12 years. His company was enjoyed by his fellow staff members.”
The youth charged with his murder will appear in Papakura Youth Court tomorrow.
Mr Bush said that because of the accused’s age he could not go into any detail about what, if any, relationship there was between the accused and Mr Phillips.
When asked about a rumour that it was a sexual incident of some sort, Mr Bush said there was “no evidence of that at this stage whatsoever, but again I can’t go into any detail”.
“A young person has been arrested and the full facts obviously will come out in any resulting court case.”
It has been reported that Mr Phillips was stabbed to death.
He said a service would be held among staff at Manukau police station this evening and that there would be a further arrangements for later in the week.
Mr Phillips’ death was one of two homicides in the Counties Manukau area this weekend. Early this morning a 21-year-old man died after he was struck by a car during a street brawl in Papatoetoe.
There had been few homicides in the area this year before the weekend but Mr Bush said the homicide rate this weekend was not something he was thinking about.
“It has been a very busy weekend for us but the tragedy really is for the victims and our hearts go out to the victims and to the families of these people.”
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