'I'm guilty': Adam Owens admits killing his mother

Murder-accused Adam Owens on the first day of his trial yesterday admitted to killing his mother.
Owens, 34, whose association with Masterton began as former campaign manager for Christian Heritage Party Wairarapa candidate Merepeka Raukawa-Tait in the 2002 general election, had previously pleaded not guilty to the 2006 murder of his mother, Sydney environmental campaigner Doris Owens, 69.
However, he changed his plea yesterday in New South Wales Supreme Court, simply saying: "I'm guilty."
Wearing a dark-grey suit and striped tie, Owens stood as Justice Lucy McCallum formally convicted him of murder.
No date for sentencing has been fixed.
Owens, who was last sighted in Masterton in a wheelchair and often dressed complete with Panama hat and cane, was charged with his mother's murder five months after his older brother, Caleb, who was in the court yesterday, publicly accused him of the killing.
Ms Owens was found dead in the bedroom of her Swanhaven home on September 12, 2006, with multiple stab wounds, lying on a bed that was broken in the ferocity of the attack.
She had been subjected to vicious letters and graffiti for her environmental campaigning and a fortnight after her death, Owens addressed the Shoalhaven City Council and claimed his mother was killed in a political assassination.
Owens, who was also a former Australian Liberal Party worker who once worked for former New South Wales police minister Ted Pickering, had sat dozing in the dock as he waited for his charge to be read before a Sydney magistrate on his first appearance over the death.
Police offered no evidence regarding a motive for why Owens allegedly stabbed his mother to death.
Owens was active in the 2002 campaign for Mrs Raukawa-Tait until there was a bitter public fallout.
He had also offered some help to Masterton District Council candidate David Holmes, but later falsely claimed Mr Holmes owed his company $10,000 for work he said was done.
Mr Holmes subsequently laid a defamation claim against Owens, who failed to appear at the Masterton District Court, with the judge refusing to accept as reason to delay the matter a letter from Doris Owens saying her son was incapacitated.
The court found in favour of Mr Holmes and awarded him damages of $100,000 plus costs and accrued interest.
Mr Holmes said yesterday that Owens' guilty plea came as a complete surprise as he has been in regular contact with the prosecution team and NSW police and had expected Owens "to fight it out".
He said he intended pursuing the money owed, despite conceding the debt was unlikely to ever be paid and a caveat he had placed over the home of Ms Owens, until there was absolute certainty the outstanding amount is unrecoverable.
Owens rang the Times-Age after the murder of his mother, offering a quote for any article that might appear in the paper about the case.
He claimed at the time he knew who had murdered his mother, naming the person as a member of the local council.
His brother, Dr Caleb Owens, is a lecturer in psychology at Sydney University and said outside the Sydney court yesterday he was "still processing" the guilty plea.