Ex boyfriend killed Sara Niethe
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| Photo [Murdered women Sara Niethe / Supplied. ] |
A Waikato man charged with murdering his former girlfriend nearly a decade ago has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter.
Mark Pakenham was arrested in August 2011, eight years after mother-of-three Sara Niethe went missing on March 30, 2003.
Her body has never been found.
Pakenham was due to stand trial for her murder in May, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the High Court at Hamilton on Friday.
The court heard Ms Niethe died after being administered methamphetamine.
Ms Niethe went missing while making the 10-minute drive from Pakenham's house in Kaihere, 35km northwest of Morrinsville, to her home in Kerepehi.
Pakenham also admitted assaults on two other women in the early 1990s.
Ms Niethe's mother, Eileen Marbeck, told the New Zealand Herald she wants Pakenham to reveal where her daughter's body is.
"I can't understand why they would even accept a plea when he can't tell them what he's done with it. It's been 10 years; he's kept denying it for 10 years."
Pakenham will be sentenced in June.