Man pleads guilty to speargun murder of wife and daughter

MELBOURNE - A Melbourne man today pleaded guilty to the murder of his pregnant New Zealand wife and their 19-month-old daughter.

John Myles Sharpe, 37, today appeared before Victorian Supreme Court judge Justice Bernard Teague via a videolink from Barwon Prison.

Asked how he pleaded to the murder of 41-year-old Anna Kemp, he responded "guilty".

Asked the same question in regard to his daughter Gracie Sharpe, he also responded "guilty".

Sharpe shot his wife with a speargun as she slept on March 23 last year, at their Mornington home south of Melbourne. He killed his daughter with a speargun four days later.

Justice Teague set March 21 for the pre-sentence hearing.

According to a summary of evidence handed to the Melbourne Magistrates Court in November, Sharpe murdered Ms Kemp with two shots to the head as she slept on March 23 last year.

After burying Ms Kemp in a shallow grave in their backyard in Mornington, south of Melbourne, and drinking three scotch and Cokes "for courage" he allegedly killed toddler Gracie Sharpe four days later.

Gracie was shot with four spears.

The court was told Sharpe used a chainsaw to dismember Ms Kemp's exhumed body and left her remains and Gracie's body in waste collection bins at the Mornington Transfer Station.

In May, an emotional Sharpe told television reporters he believed his wife was still alive, but on June 22 he allegedly confessed to the murders.

- AAP