The man charged with killing Constable Matthew Hunt in June last year has admitted to murder.
By Laura James and Logan Church
The trial for Eli Epiha and alleged co-offender Natalie Bracken began this morning, but last week, Epiha made a late change to his pleas.
The 25-year-old is now a convicted murderer and has also been convicted for dangerous driving causing injury to a member of the public.
His guilty pleas were suppressed until a jury was formed today, to protect fair trial rights.
That suppression, as well as suppression orders preventing media from publishing images of Epiha, lifted at 1pm today.
Matthew Hunt's mum and sister, Diane and Eleanor Hunt, sat in the public gallery, teary and holding hands during the hearing at the High Court in Auckland last week.
Eli Epiha has admitted to the killing but denies intending to kill Hunt's partner who was also shot multiple times.
During the arraignment, Epiha's lawyer, Mark Edgar, argued Hunt's death, in the West Auckland suburb of Massey last year, was a result of reckless discharge of a weapon and not intentional.
When pleading guilty in the dock, Epiha said, "I plead guilty to reckless discharge causing death".
The jury for the trial is left to decide if he's also guilty of attempting to murder the officer who was with Constable Hunt, who was left seriously injured following the incident.
It will also determine if 31-year-old Natalie Bracken's guilty of being an accessory after the fact, helping the killer to get away from Police.
This morning a 12-person jury was empaneled.
The trial before Justice Geoffrey Venning expected to last three weeks.
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