(TAN): A New Zealand man who had shot an Australian surfer dead has pleaded guilty. Hamilton resident Mark Ronald Garson, 24, admitted to killing Sean McKinnon, 33, and then threatening to kill McKinnon’s Canadian girlfriend, reports said.
McKinnon was sleeping in his campervan, which was parked in the coastal town of Raglan, alongside his girlfriend Bianca Buckley when he was shot several times. Buckley managed to escape and ran for several kilometres before seeking refuge in a nearby farmhouse before alerting authorities. The incident took place in August last year.
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Garson fled in the couple’s van and dumped it 80 kilometres away with McKinnon’s body inside. A day later, he was arrested but he pleaded not guilty. However, he changed his plea to guilty on October 7 in Hamilton’s High Court.
The New Zealand Herald reported that McKinnon’s family, including his Canadian fiancee, watched the hearing on video link. The man who supplied Garson with the weapon he used to kill McKinnon was earlier given six months of community detention.
Garson will be sentenced on December 9.
