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A former flatmate of a man alleged to have��stabbed another man��outside a suburban Auckland tennis club says the accused once threatened him, leaving him anxious to know he could have��acted on his threats.����

Stephen Thorpe, 54, died at the Blockhouse Bay Tennis Club on August 24.��His alleged killer, a 26-year-old local man, was arrested less than a week later and had his first appearance in court on Thursday, August 29. He was granted interim name suppression.��

The former flatmate recounted his first meeting with the accused when he moved into the house, saying the man immediately alleged he had been stalking him.��

“He had some thoughts I was like some crazy person that was stalking him. Obviously, I was just an acquaintance of his – I had never met him before.��

“We were just having a chit chat and then he started to think I was working against him and he started getting very paranoid.”��

He said the man threatened him on a messaging platform, which he alerted his landlord to. He said the accused got upset the landlord had been contacted.��

Police were allegedly then involved, after which the accused stopped living at the flat.��

“The thing that terrifies me is that you know, now he has allegedly done something so bad, it feels like that could have been me. That’s very scary.”��

Other residents of the “quiet and safe” suburb were terrified after learning the man alleged to have stabbed and killed Thorpe had lived locally.��

Police were at a house belonging to people known to the man on Thursday afternoon last week. Neighbours told the��Herald��they had seen investigators trawling the property for evidence since his arrest on Wednesday, August 28.��

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Another former flatmate of the accused told the��Herald��the man rarely engaged with his housemates, preferring to keep to himself in his room.��

“Mostly he was always in his room. He wouldn’t say hello to anybody and all that.��

“He did have some girlfriends, they were coming and meeting him, and [he was] going out with them also. He had a beautiful car.”��

Neighbours said they were not familiar with the occupants.��

They felt uneasy seeing police in the neighbourhood, had been left scared after the stabbing at their local park, and were concerned by the developments.��

“It’s so horrifying,” one neighbour said.��

“I thought this was a safe place. But when I heard about that incident on Saturday ... I was just so concerned about what’s happening,” she said.��

Another neighbour said “it was really sad that Stephen died, and really scary” his alleged killer could have been nearby.��

“It’s such a lovely neighbourhood. It’s amazing,” they said.��

“But it’s really terrifying, especially considering you know, there are kids around, there’s a park here, and the kids walk around here all the time. It’s just really scary to think that it might not be safe.”��

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the��Herald��as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.��