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Mark Ronald Garson had already pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sean McKinnon and had threatened to kill his partner Bianca Buckley after attacking them in their motorhome in the early hours of August 16 last year.
Buckley was able to escape and ran several miles to seek help.
Garson was due to stand trial next month, but at a Hamilton Superior Court hearing this afternoon he pleaded guilty to both charges.
McKinnon’s family, including his sister, were able to view today’s court statement through an audiovisual link.
McKinnon, 33, and Buckley, who is Canadian, were asleep when Garson approached their vehicle.
The enthusiastic surfer was shot, after which Buckley was able to get out of the vehicle and run 2km in the dark down a gravel road for help.
Garson fled in the trailer and dumped it on the roadside near Gordonton, on the outskirts of Hamilton.
McKinnon’s body was inside.
Speaking at the July sentencing of the man who supplied the gun to Garson, Buckley told the court that he now lived in fear of going out into the dark and camping.
He suffered from anxiety and was unable to work for nine months after McKinnon’s death.
Buckley had canceled his Australian citizenship application because the couple’s dream of living together in Australia had ended.
“You have shattered my relationship with Sean’s family. Now I am single again at 32 when we were planning to have babies and build a house this year,” she told the court at the time.
“Basically, I am starting my life from scratch again, all the time crying to my soulmate, having memories of that night and waiting for a slow process of justice that will see me in and out of court, at least until the end of this year.” .
Roderick James Finlayson was sentenced to six months in community detention for supplying the weapon.
