Killer was invited into judge's home, says Peters

By AUDREY YOUNG and BRIDGET CARTER

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says a judge's husband laid a false complaint of aggravated burglary against a man he had invited into his house.

The man, Phillip Layton Edwards, was later convicted of killing Auckland interior designer David McNee.

Mr Peters alleged in Parliament yesterday that Edwards was invited to the home of Judge Coral Shaw and Peter Shaw, and Mr Shaw had made a false complaint against Edwards.

"We know there was no home invasion, we know there was no burglary, we know that this person was invited to the house from whence a complaint came to police," Mr Peters said.

"Nothing happened as a consequence. We want to know why?"

He said it appeared Mr Shaw's complaint was false.

"The complaint made by the male of that household was a false complaint, so there should have been a prosecution."

The police on Wednesday rejected any suggestion that improper decisions were taken in the case. They said they would not discuss the details further as Edwards has not yet been sentenced and may appeal.

Mr Peters and colleague Ron Mark made their claims during questions to Police Minister George Hawkins, although they produced no evidence for their case.

Mr Mark asked why the police did not charge Mr Shaw with making a false complaint and wasting police time.

He later tabled a record of Edwards' 54 criminal convictions.

Mr Shaw's lawyer, John Haigh, QC, has said Mr Shaw was violently attacked in a burglary at their Morningside home, Auckland, in September 2002, and had not wanted to go through the trauma of a trial.

Last night, he said the allegations made in Parliament were untrue and his client was being "re-victimised".

The comments were an unwarranted attack on Mr Shaw under the cloak of parliamentary privilege.

"Mr Shaw remains a victim.

"There was a burglary of his home, he was attacked, and he rang the police to lodge a complaint of the aggravated burglary of his home."

Mr Haigh said that his client was like many victims - he did not want to relive his situation by going through the prosecution process.

"This attack in Parliament is having just the effect of re-victimising him when he has done nothing wrong."

The issue of the earlier complaint was first raised in a TV3 20-20 documentary which said the police caught Edwards in April last year for burglary of the Shaw home the previous year by matching his DNA with blood found at the Shaw house at the time of the burglary.

Edwards was in prison in April on unrelated matters.

The programme claimed to have a police file on the case which said that Edwards confessed to the burglary but that there was no prosecution because Mr Shaw, an art curator, did not want to give evidence at a trial.

Eleven days after being released from prison, Edwards was picked up by Mr McNee on Karangahape Rd in Auckland, and taken to his home in St Marys Bay for a sexual favour.

Edwards killed him. He was convicted of manslaughter, and is to be sentenced in two weeks.

Mr Peters implied that if Edwards had been convicted earlier for the Shaw burglary, Mr McNee's death might have been prevented.

He said Mr Hawkins would not stand up in Parliament "and tell us why someone ended up murdering someone else when that person should have been arrested a long time before that".

But Act MP Richard Prebble said Mr Peters' statements were "completely contradictory".

"If there was not a burglary, then how could the police arrest the offender?"

He challenged Mr Peters to prove his allegations.

Mr Hawkins denied covering anything up.

"I think the member may have all the information he needs to answer his own question.

"I do not have it.

"A man may have died, and that is a tragedy, but I do not think that a Minister of the Crown should interfere with the courts.

"I certainly do not talk about assaults in Courtenay Place and I do not talk about taxi-drivers not getting their fare paid," he said in reference to two incidents involving Mr Peters that were investigated by the police.

Coral Shaw is an Employment Court judge.

The Herald tried to speak to Mr Shaw at his Auckland home last night, but he was unavailable.