WITH A RIFLE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 27, 1 February 1945, Page 6

WITH A RIFLE

INJURY TO FATHER

SON SENT TO PRISON

Arising out of a quarrel with his father and the wounding of the latter by a rifle shot at Tauranga early in January, Thomas Joseph Buckley Prier, a farmhand, aged 18 years, was sentenced by Mr. Justice Callan in the Supreme Court today on a charge that Jie caused actual bodily harm so that if death had ensued he would have been guilty of manslaughter. Prier was not represented by counsel and his Honor said his study of the papers in the case led him to assume that a quarrel arose between Prier, who had taken some drink, and his father, who was very drunk, apparently over Prier's association with a Maori, girl. It was also assumed by the Court that Prier did not deliberately press the trigger, but that the discharge of the rifle was caused in part by the father grabbing at the muzzle. Nevertheless, Prier's action was such that had his father died Prier would have been found guilty of manslaughter by a jury which did its duty. His Honor said he could not see his way tc* grant probation and the prisoner would be sentenced to imprisonment for six months with hard labour.