Man pleads guilty to Lower Hutt murder

Stuart Graham Wilton originally denied the charge. Photo / Mark Mitchell

One of the three people charged with murdering a Lower Hutt man has today pleaded guilty.

Stuart Graham Wilton originally denied the charge but changed his plea in the High Court at Wellington and admitted his role in Matthew Stevens' death.

Matthew Stevens' body was found near his car in thick bush on a steep slope off Paekakariki Hill Road. Photo / Police

Stevens' body was found next to his car on the Paekakariki Hill Rd in November last year.
Justice Simon France convicted Wilton and gave him a three-strikes warning.

The Stevens family said in a statement given to the Dominion Post they would never come to terms with what had happened.

"It is such a massive loss to our family losing him."

"No-one has the right to take someone's life and our lives have been ruined and changed forever with tragic heartache."

"We miss him every day and will never understand or come to terms with why and how someone could do this to him," The Dominion Post reported.

The judge ordered Wilton to stay in custody until his sentencing later this month.

A pre-sentence report will be prepared before then.

The other two charged with murder, Darrin John Wilkie-Morris and Kelly Leigh Crook, will go on trial next year.