Victim's family go home to Waihi crime scene

The Waihi home of murder victim Phillip Hennah was blessed during a tapu-lifting ceremony at noon yesterday, in preparation for his family's return.

In the afternoon, relatives tidied up the house and section, which had been sealed off as a crime scene since the 48-year-old was beaten to death there early on Saturday.

Last night, Mr Hennah's widow Patricia, their daughter Kathleen, 5, and his stepdaughters were to sleep in their own beds again.

As Eastern Waikato police continued their homicide investigation, little Kathleen went to school yesterday in an effort to "get back to normality", said Mr Hennah's sister Raewyn Heavey, from Auckland.

Some family members took baking to the Waihi police station as a token of appreciation for the inquiry team.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Lucci Hennah, who was five when her mother died of cancer, has kept a candle burning in a miniature lantern at the end of the long driveway.

The flame - a symbol of love for her father - will be extinguished tomorrow when she returns to Whangarei where she now lives and works.

Murder inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Glenn Dunbier has appealed for four young men seen in Silverton Rd near the Hennah residence about 3am on Saturday to come forward.

They were not considered suspects but needed to be spoken to, he said yesterday evening.

The youths, wearing hooded sweatshirts and trousers, had been noticed by a number of people about the time police believed Mr Hennah was killed.

"We need to identify them, ascertain if they saw anything and eliminate them from the inquiry," Mr Dunbier said.

Investigators were still "doing the leg work and covering all the basics properly".