Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Guilty plea in wife killing

Updated at 5:44 am on 10 February 2012

A Roxburgh man has pleaded guilty to murdering his wife of 40 years.

Warren Johnston, 67, shot and killed his wife Lesley in March last year before turning the gun on himself, though he later recovered in hospital.

A jury trial was expected to begin next week, but Johnston pleaded guilty to murder in the High Court at Dunedin on Thursday.

A police statement says Mrs Johnston told her husband she was leaving him two weeks before the shooting. He was later diagnosed with cancer.

Sentencing is on 9 March.

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