A man has admitted breaking into a Hastings motel unit and stabbing New Plymouth father and daughter Christopher and Phillippa Whitaker.
Keith Terepo, 19, orchard worker of Flaxmere, broke into the pair's Cumberland Court Motel on March 15 looking for items to steal.
Instead he fled empty handed after stabbing Mr Whitaker in the face, chest and abdomen and equestrian rider Phillippa in the hand.
The father and daughter were in Hastings for the Horse of the Year competition.
Terepo pleaded guilty in the Hastings District Court yesterday to charges of wounding the two with reckless disregard for their safety and to burglary.
Police had reduced the charges from wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Andy Sloan said Terepo was staying at the motel on the night of the attack.
He entered the Whitakers' unlocked unit and walked into Mr Whitaker's room, then left after finding the man in an unsettled sleep and walked into Phillippa's room.
Mr Sloan said Terepo took a carving knife from the kitchen and held it to Phillippa's throat as he leaned over her bed.
Her screams as she woke alerted her father who found Terepo still holding his daughter with a knife to her throat when he came to her aid.
During a confrontation Terepo repeatedly stabbed Mr Whitaker before fleeing on foot.
Terepo was remanded in custody for sentencing in Napier on May 23.
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