Kenan Dowden-Carlisle was charged with murder. Photo: Instagram.
First Nations readers are advised this article contains the name of a person who has died.
Kenan Dowden-Carlisle has admitted he murdered Indigenous Australian man Jordan Powell in central Canberra.
Police originally said officers were called to assist a man who had collapsed in Garema Place in Civic at about 9:45 am on 4 December 2021.
Despite the best efforts of bystanders and emergency services to help him, 29-year-old Mr Powell died at the scene.
Police spotted Dowden-Carlisle, then 19, in City Walk about an hour later and arrested him after a short chase on foot.
He has been in custody since his arrest and appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday (28 February) where, dressed in grey and flanked by prison guards, he pleaded guilty to a charge of murder.
His Legal Aid lawyer said the plea was entered on the basis of a “reckless indifference”.
Justice David Mossop vacated his trial date and said he would appear in a directions list on 2 March to begin organising a sentencing date.
Dowden-Carlisle, from the Queanbeyan suburb of Greenleigh, had initially pleaded not guilty.
When he was committed to trial last June, the court heard he had offered to plead guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
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