Warren Bruce Johnston (67) yesterday pleaded guilty in the High Court at Dunedin to murdering his wife, Lesley Ann Johnston (60), at their former home in Roxburgh on March 11 last year. He was remanded in custody for sentencing on March 9.
"You would never have expected something like it from a couple like that. They were straight-up ordinary people, community-minded and well-liked," Stu Edgecumbe, of Roxburgh East, said.
"They're a good family and I regarded them as friends, not just acquaintances.""In our our dealings, social and professional, he met my expectations.
"I didn't know him well in later years, but he was a man you could rely upon."
Mrs Johnston was a bubbly outgoing person, with a personality that "lit up the room when she walked in", he said.
"She could walk into a group of strangers and, within seconds, she had them smiling."
A long-serving member of the Roxburgh Health Camp, Mrs Johnston's most recent role had been as parenting co-ordinator and a mentor for the parenting programme, working in the camp and also in the field, visiting families in Otago and Southland.
"Lesley was always bubbly; she concealed her own hurts very well. If she had knockbacks, you would never know it," Mr Edgecumbe said.
The murder was believed to be the town's first since the gold rush days and it had shocked Teviot Valley residents.
"You'd never think something like that would happen in our wee town," he said.
The couple had run the Molyneux Dairy in the town for several years and Mr Johnston worked as borough foreman for many years, before being made redundant in the mid-1990s, Mr Edgecumbe said.
"When he was the foreman, if you had a problem in the town that required urgent attention, he'd sort it out for you - cleaning out sewers, sorting out the water for the fire brigade, whatever needed done, he'd get on to it and get it done."
After being made redundant, Mr Johnston remained in work, picking up various jobs: "He was a good steady worker."
It was a surprise to find out the couple had split up, Mr Edgecumbe said.
The couple, who married when Mrs Johnston was 17, had two children, a son, who lives in Roxburgh, and a daughter, who died three years ago.
Mrs Johnston had been "amazingly strong" when her daughter Richelle was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, friends said.
In their tributes at Mrs Johnston's funeral, friends, colleagues and family described her as " a breath of fresh air" and possessing an infectious sense of humour. She had a personality that "sparkled"and was a selfless person, the first to volunteer for any task, they said.
A friend told how Mrs Johnston had phoned, two days before her death, "so excited to tell me of all her plans for the future".
Approached for comment by the Otago Daily Times yesterday, Roxburgh Community Board chairman Stephen Jeffery said it must be a "huge relief" for the family not to have to go through a trial.
"The sympathy of everyone here is with the family. In a small town like this, when something like that happens, it touches everyone," Mr Jeffery said.
"The huge amount of people at Lesley's funeral showed how well-liked she was and the impact she had on the community."
