Drizzt
May 15, 2003, 08:57 PM
The Southland Times (New Zealand)
May 13, 2003, Tuesday
SECTION: NEWS; NATIONAL; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 566 words
HEADLINE: Gun fell, hunter shot
BODY:
QUEENSTOWN -- A hunter who was seriously wounded after he accidentally shot himself with a kea gun was discharged without conviction for unlawful possession of a pistol when he appeared before Judge Phil Moran in the Queenstown District Court yesterday.
Jeremy Brett Scott, 31, had taken a Magica shotgun, commonly known as a kea gun and regarded in law as a pistol, hunting with him at Dunrobin on November 13.
Prosecutor Sergeant Sue Evans said Scott leaned the pistol against a manuka bush, thinking the safety catch was on. But it fell over and went off, seriously wounding Scott, she said. He was found by colleagues and airlifted to Invercargill Hospital.
He had a licence for firearms but not the pistol, Mrs Evans said.
Defence counsel Bryce Whiting said the pistol was a family heirloom and Scott was not aware he needed a permit after a 1994 change to the Arms Act.
Kea guns were popular from early last century and were designed to be used with one hand, he said.
Judge Moran said ignorance of the law was not a defence but it did show that "the culpability here is zero." Scott was ordered to surrender the gun but was not convicted because the consequences would outweigh the seriousness of the offence, Judge Moran said.
May 13, 2003, Tuesday
SECTION: NEWS; NATIONAL; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 566 words
HEADLINE: Gun fell, hunter shot
BODY:
QUEENSTOWN -- A hunter who was seriously wounded after he accidentally shot himself with a kea gun was discharged without conviction for unlawful possession of a pistol when he appeared before Judge Phil Moran in the Queenstown District Court yesterday.
Jeremy Brett Scott, 31, had taken a Magica shotgun, commonly known as a kea gun and regarded in law as a pistol, hunting with him at Dunrobin on November 13.
Prosecutor Sergeant Sue Evans said Scott leaned the pistol against a manuka bush, thinking the safety catch was on. But it fell over and went off, seriously wounding Scott, she said. He was found by colleagues and airlifted to Invercargill Hospital.
He had a licence for firearms but not the pistol, Mrs Evans said.
Defence counsel Bryce Whiting said the pistol was a family heirloom and Scott was not aware he needed a permit after a 1994 change to the Arms Act.
Kea guns were popular from early last century and were designed to be used with one hand, he said.
Judge Moran said ignorance of the law was not a defence but it did show that "the culpability here is zero." Scott was ordered to surrender the gun but was not convicted because the consequences would outweigh the seriousness of the offence, Judge Moran said.