Teenager Lori-Lea Waiora Te Wini has pleaded guilty to the 2008 murder of a retired Opotiki schoolteacher, four days before her retrial was set to begin.
In the High Court at Rotorua yesterday Te Wini pleaded guilty to murdering John Rowe at his home on November 25, 2008. She was 14 at the time.
Te Wini and her cousin Courtney Pauline Churchward, who was 16 at the time of the offence, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to at least 17 years in prison in December 2009.
Both appealed against their convictions and sentences and in June 2011 the Court of Appeal granted Te Wini a retrial, which had been due to start on Monday.
Yesterday Justice David Collins asked Te Wini's lawyer Chris Stevenson whether there was any reason why he should not accept her guilty plea.
