Man sentenced to life in prison for murder of woman on beach

1.45pm

An Oamaru man was today sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an elderly woman on a West Coast beach earlier this year.

The body of Mya Sollis, 73, of Punakaiki, was found by a Department of Conservation officer in marram grass on Morrison's Beach, 43 km north of Greymouth.

Peter Douglas Carrington, 32, admitted murdering her, in the High Court at Greymouth.

An autopsy found she died of blood loss from 11 stab wounds to the neck and face, including her eyelids.

Mrs Sollis had been living alone in the area for about a year after moving out of her pensioner flat in Hokitika, where she was buried.

Mrs Sollis had often gathered driftwood and stones from the beach.