The 33 year-old man arrested on August 15 last year for the 2001 rape of a woman in her 20s in the Parnell Rose Gardens, today pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court.
Pop Tanupou E'-Moala Aholelei was remanded in custody to appear on July 20 for sentencing. His arrest was one of the first by the Auckland City District's Adult Sexual Assault Team, established in July last year specifically to investigate and manage adult sex crime files.
Aholelei was, until today, a machinery operator from One Tree Hill.
The woman, who now lives overseas, was abducted from O'Connell St in the city at about 11.45pm on August 25, 2001, and driven to the gardens where she was raped. She later approached a security guard at a nearby hotel who called Police.