The man accused of shooting and killing Tasmania Police Constable Keith Smith has pleaded guilty to murder.
Leigh Geoffrey Sushames entered the plea in the Devonport Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Constable Smith, 57, was shot dead on June 16 last year when he arrived at Sushames’ North Motton property to serve a court-ordered repossession notice.
He died at the scene.
Sushames, in court on Wednesday, also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.
However, he pleaded not guilty to attempted murder over the shooting of a second officer who accompanied Constable Smith to the property that day.
Constable Smith was a 25-year veteran of Tasmania Police, having joined the force in September 2000.
He had worked at Ulverstone Police Station for five years before his death.
At the time of his death, Tasmania Police Commissioner Donna Adams described him as “a respected and committed officer”, whose loss would be “deeply felt across our policing family and the wider community”.
Constable Smith received the Commissioner’s Medal in 2011 and the National Police Service Medal in 2016.
He is survived by his wife Janaha and daughter Ava.
His death prompted an outpouring of grief across Tasmania’s north-west, with hundreds of tributes left on an online condolence page and dozens of floral arrangements placed outside Ulverstone Police Station.
He was farewelled with full police honours at a funeral in Devonport on June 27.
Tasmania Police has since established the Keith Smith Community Policing Award in his honour.
The matter will move to the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Burnie at a later date.
