A man has admitted to shooting and killing his son at a rural property in Hawke's Bay, but his lawyer says he should not serve a life sentence.
Dean Cole, 62, pleaded guilty in the High Court at Wellington today to murdering 42-year-old Blair Cole, in Mohaka last October.
He will be sentenced in Gisborne in March.
But his lawyer, Susan Hughes, QC, told Justice Robert Dobson she would be asking for a sentence less than life imprisonment.
Life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years is the minimum penalty for murder, unless such a sentence can be shown to be manifestly unjust.
