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Christel Yardley / Waikato Times
Mark Robert Garson pleaded guilty to the murder of Australian tourist Sean McKinnon near Raglan and threatened to kill his fiancee, Bianca Buckley.
The family of a murdered Australian tourist plans to come to New Zealand for their shooter’s sentencing.
And the man’s fiancee, who saw him killed in front of her, said she is “glad he finally stopped wasting everyone’s time.”
Mark Robert Garson, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murder of Sean McKinnon, 33, in August 2019, near Raglan.
He also admitted to threatening to kill McKinnon’s fiancee, Bianca Buckley, when he appeared in Hamilton Superior Court.
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The couple had been sleeping in a caravan in the Te Toto Gorge parking lot in the early hours of August 16, 2019, police said at the time.
A gunman broke in around 3.20am and fired multiple shots in what police believed was a random attack.
McKinnon was shot and killed and Buckley fled down a rough coastal road to seek help at a farm.
McKinnon’s body was later found in the rented caravan, about 70 miles away in Gordonton, near Hamilton.
TOM LEE / THINGS
Sean McKinnon loved surfing and the New Zealand lifestyle. Video file.
On Wednesday, members of McKinnon’s family in Australia saw Garson admit to the charges through an audiovisual link to the court.
Judge Pheroze Jagose detained Garson until his sentencing on December 9.
The sentencing date was chosen so that McKinnon’s family could come to New Zealand to attend, Crown Prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton said.
Garson had a supporter in court, and he yelled “I love you, bro” when they took him out of the courtroom.
Mark Taylor / Stuff
Sean McKinnon was shot near Raglan, but his body, in the trailer he had rented, was found near Hamilton.
But the woman Garson threatened to kill is tired of hearing about him.
“I’m glad he’s finally stopped wasting everyone’s time by pleading guilty,” said a statement from Buckley, issued through victim advocate Ruth Money.
“I don’t think I have to explain the magnitude of the impact that the murder of my future husband in my eyes and then threatening to kill me has had on my life and that of our loved ones … “.
In court, Judge Jagose warned Garson that he was now subject to the three strike law.
That means any more serious violent crime will give you a prison sentence without parole or early release, and another murder conviction would result in life in prison without parole, unless it is grossly unfair.
Stuff
The shooting occurred in the Te Toto Gorge parking lot, near Raglan. This photo looks along the coast looking towards the Te Toto Gorge.
