Police vow to find Waihi man's killer

Waihi man Phillip Hennah was buried yesterday as a team of 30 police vowed to find his killer.

Waikato police remained committed to solving the case as quickly as possible for the sake of Mr Hennah's family, said inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Glenn Dunbier, who attended the large funeral in the Waihi Baptist Church.

Mr Hennah, described as a well-known and colourful character in the town, was buried alongside his parents at the Tirihia urupa.

His badly beaten body was found on his own property just outside his Silverton Rd home on Saturday.

Police do not know what was used to bash him.

Mr Dunbier said "a great many" friends and associates the police had spoken to were also keen to have the matter resolved for the grieving family. "Everyone's on the same wavelength."

Four youths seen near the dead man's house about the time he died have not come forward despite an appeal from police on Wednesday.

Mr Dunbier said they were not considered suspects and were probably just walking home from town around 3am on Saturday.

"But we need to find them pretty smartly to know if they saw or heard anything and to eliminate them from the inquiry."

He said a few people, none of whom heard any disturbance in the area, had seen the youths dressed in hooded sweatshirts and long trousers.

A neighbour had helped investigators establish that Mr Hennah died between 3am and 4am.