'Everybody loved Kev'

Kevan Newman

Kevan Newman was the kind of bus driver who received letters of commendation - not complaints - from passengers.

He was the bowling club member who drove the bus to away matches while his friends larked about down the back.

And he was the driving force behind getting public transport company Stagecoach involved in the annual Variety Club bash.

Friends and former colleagues yesterday remembered the 65-year-old man fatally stabbed by a psychiatric patient as a man with a "good sense of humour", "hard-working" and "dependable".

Mr Newman belonged to the Pt Chevalier Bowling Club and was a committee member who represented the club in competitions.

"Everybody loved Kev, he got on with everybody," said manager Jenny Jones.

Mr Newman and his partner Vicky regularly attended Friday night housie at the club.

His family has declined to talk to the media but issued a statement to the Herald on Monday, saying Mr Newman went out of his way to help people and always put others first.

He attended Pt Chevalier Primary School, Pasadena Intermediate School and then Avondale College.

A brother said Mr Newman had been involved with the heavy-vehicle industry since he left school and had worked as a bus driver in Upper Hutt.

Mr Newman joined Auckland bus company Stagecoach in 1995 as a driver and became an instructor in 1997.

"He received many letters of commendation from customers," said a company spokesman.

He said Mr Newman was integral in getting Stagecoach involved in the Variety Club and drove a bus in the bash.

"He was the one who got us into the idea of putting a bus towards it."

Mr Newman left the company in 2003 to "ease into retirement" and enjoy his then-new relationship with Vicky.

He has two children, a son in Wellington and a daughter in Australia.

It is not known what Mr Newman was doing in Henderson on Monday but Miss Jones said he might have been visiting a driver friend.

Police said he was stabbed as he stood next to his car.

"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Miss Jones.

Mr Newman's funeral will be held tomorrow.