A 35-year-old Ōtāhuhu resident accused of the murder of an apprentice builder at a South Auckland address last year can now be named.

Suppression has lapsed for Joshua Timoti, who was charged with murder following the August 18 death of 26-year-old Jonty Douglas.

Police said at the time of the alleged incident that they had found a man with critical injuries at a Jane Cowie Ave address in Ōtāhuhu around 8 o’clock that night.

“Despite police providing first aid, he has died at the scene,” Counties Manukau CIB Detective Inspector Warrick Adkin said.

Timoti has since pleaded not guilty to the charge and is set to go to trial in September in the High Court at Auckland.

Douglas was a hard-working man who was about to finish his apprenticeship as a builder when he died, his sister told the Herald.

Police were called to an address on Jane Cowie Avenue in Auckland's Ōtāhuhu. Photo / Darren Masters

She described him as a “gentle giant” who was a family man and always eager to offer help in any way he could.

He was also active in Destiny Church’s Man Up programme, a rehabilitation course and self-described “brotherhood” aimed at helping men “to heal their inner selves in order to lead fulfilling lives as leaders in their homes and communities”.