With trial set to begin, Kirk Keeping pleads guilty to 2019 murder of Chantel John

Kirk Keeping appears in court by video on April 8. His trial had been set to start that day but was delayed by a week. On Monday morning, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, among other charges. (Mark Cumby/CBC)

Kirk Keeping has pleaded guilty to the January 2019 murder of Chantel John in Conne River, on Newfoundland's south coast.

Keeping's trial, for the first-degree murder of his former girlfriend John, had been set to begin last week but was delayed until Monday.

The St. Jacques-Coombs Cove man was originally charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder but pleaded guilty Monday morning to lesser charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault.

He also pleaded guilty to uttering threats and two breaches of probation.

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