Three teenage girls have pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Levin woman Grace Virtue.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
The 90-year-old died from a brain injury three weeks after a home invasion and assault in November last year.
A trial for the three teenagers started at the High Court in Palmerston North yesterday and was expected to last three weeks.
The teens had name suppression - the youngest was 14 - and all pleaded not guilty to murder.
However, this afternoon the trio pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
They will be sentenced on 13 November.
Earlier the jury was told that the teens had planned the home invasion on Facebook messenger and targeted Virtue because she was elderly and lived alone.
Virtue's niece, Wendy O'Moore, told the court her and her husband had driven to her aunt's home after the invasion.
O'Moore said her aunt "looked pretty rough" and "felt foolish" for letting two of the teens inside.
She said her aunt had pleaded with the girls not to kick her in the head - she had fallen to the ground and was kicked in the ribs - and suffered bruising to the right side of her face.
A teen witness, who also has name suppression, described two of the accused as having "red knuckles" as well as having new items of clothing and tobacco with them.
She told the court one of the accused confided in her a day later that she had hurt Virtue and was "freaking out" that she was "going to get done for this".