By Bay Times court reporter
The man responsible for murdering Tauranga's Mikaere (Michael) Douglas O'Sullivan and Toni-Anne Nathan under the Wairoa Bridge last year has this morning pleaded guilty to the crimes.
In the High Court at Rotorua today, truck driver Anthony Paul Doyle, 40, admitted two charges of murder when he
appeared for a hearing to set his trial date.
He will be sentenced on October 13 but his defence lawyer intends to dispute some facts in the Crown's version of events.
Doyle, who initially pleaded not guilty, was arrested after the armed offenders squad surrounded his Konene St home in Rotorua on the morning of November 6.
The Tauranga couple were found lying in pools of blood by two young kayakers under the Wairoa Bridge just before 7am on October 31.
A pathologist later confirmed O'Sullivan died as a result of a close-range gunshot wound to the chest, while Nathan had wounds to both her head and chest - one shot fired from less than a metre away.
The Bay of Plenty Times reported earlier that O'Sullivan, 42, and his partner Nathan, 39, were supposed to begin a fresh life after their last drug deal.
