A 60-year-old Dunedin man has pleaded guilty to killing his neighbour in the coastal town of Seacliff last year.
Stephen Findlay was due to face a three-week trial for the murder of Sharon Comerford, 54, last March.
However, this morning he pleaded guilty in the High Court at Dunedin to a charge of murder.
A number of Comerford's family members from Australia were in court to hear his guilty plea.
Comerford's body was found in her Coast Road home on March 7 last year.
Police originally suggested she was killed by a single bullet to the head but investigation found she was beaten to death, suffering at least 12 blows to the head.
Findlay was found the next morning in Truby King Reserve with critical gunshot injuries, and later charged at a bedside hearing.
He has been remanded for sentence next week.