A 21-year-old man on trial this week over multiple allegations of sexual assault at the Labour Party summer camp has reached a plea deal with the case's prosecutors.
The accused faced five counts of indecent assault, which related to four people - two men and two women.
Today, in a sudden turn of events, he pleaded guilty to two amended charges of assault under the Summary Offences Act 1981.
The assault charges were in relation to the two men, while the remaining charges over the allegations against the two women were dismissed.
The accused's lawyer Emma Priest said she will be seeking a discharge without conviction for her client.
He had been on trial in the Auckland District Court over events at the young Labour event near Waihi in February 2018.
After being arrested in June 2018 the young man was initially charged with six counts of indecent assault, however, some of the allegations against him were dropped in September last year.
He was accused of having grabbed and squeezed a man's testicles, touched another man's genitals twice, kissed a woman on her neck and face and groped a second woman's breast and bottom.
Priest had told the jury her client was "a young man at a party caught up in a political storm".
Maria Austen, a Wellington lawyer, conducted an external review of Labour Party procedures after the allegations were made.
Austen's report included several recommendations, however, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the report will not be publicly released while the court proceedings were ongoing.
Ardern spoke to those at the camp the day before the allegations.
The trial was expected to conclude at the end of the week.
