Hunter Tells How He Shot Friend

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30056, 14 February 1963, Page 12

Hunter Tells How He Shot Friend

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, February 13.

On trial for manslaughter in the Supreme Court today, Roland Janis Splite, aged 36, a foreman carpenter, gave evidence that when he fired his .303 rifle while hunting in bush country last October, he was sure he was shooting at a pig.

Splite is charged with having unlawfully killed Victor Brown near Gape Palliser on October 20.

Mr Justice Hutchison is on the Bench. Mr W. R. Birks is appearing for the Crown and Mr E. B. Robertson for Splite. The whole question was that of the safety of those who went into the bush and the standard of care that should be exercised by those who go hunting with rifles. Mr Birks said.

He said the killing occurred in bush country when the accused and Brown, who was his friend and neighbour, were out hunting together. It might be thought, at first, that the accused had suffered enough by his action, but the Court had to look to the question as to whether his actions were negligent and whether he exercised the care that a reasonably prudent hunter should exercise in the circumstances, he said. Mir Birks said the evidence would be that Splite and Brown had set off together from the Hutt Valley to go pig hunting and met one or two other hunting parties in the area.

Both men had rifles but the deceased’s 15-year-old son who was with them wag unarmed.

In the afternoon, they came upon a pig which disappeared into thick bush in a gully below them. Brown and his son went round one side of the gully and Splite went round the other. After a time, their course was diverted by a stream which they were unable to cross. Brown’s son was following him through heavy undergrowth when he heard a shot and saw his father fall to the ground, said Mr Birks. Splite came running down and arrived to And Brown dying from a bullet wound which the Court would be told by a doctor, passed from somewhere in the right hand side of the chest through the chest and entered the heart and lungs. “Needless to say," Mr Birks added, “Splite was terribly upset.”

Mr Birks said Splite later pointed out to the police where he had been standing when he flred the shot, about 30ft from where Brown’s body lay. In that space there was undergrowth about sft high with taller trees. Splite wiped his eyes with a handkerchief as Mr Birks read the statement which he said Splite had given to the police. One passage read: "I think he died in my arms ... I offered a prayer ... At one time I was going to take my own life, but Walter objected, so I did not." The statement said he was a workmate of Brown and they had gone shooting together for about six years. Splite had been shooting In the Cape Palliser • area about 12 times, about four ot them with Brown.

It said that about 2 p.m. they heard the sound of breaking twigs and decided to split up. Soon. Splite saw a pig, which ran into the scrub.

“I saw by the movement of the ferns that the pig was heading in the general direction towards Vic and Walter (Brown’s son)." He kept on walking, and did not call out at all. Then he heard a noise and thought it was the pig returning in his direction.

He could see the tops of the fems moving towards a dip in the ground, 30ft from him. Here there was scrub about 9ft high behind smaller scrub. He thought he could see the ground between the high and the low scrub. He saw what he thought was about six inches of the ton ot a pig and fired, his intention being to shoot a little lower.

“I heard a scream and realised what had happened —that I had shot Vic or Walter. I ran to the spot and saw Vic falling backwards.” Brown was conscious but could not speak, the statement said. Splite thought be died about five minutes later.

“I have never believed an accidental shooting could happen, because it did not seem possible a chap could Are without knowing what he was firing at Nothing like this has happened to me before," the statement said. In evidence, Splite said that after he separated from his companions he thought he heard them on a spur to his right He came to a clearing, saw the back of * dark body hurrying across a “window” in the bush. He had believed that if it were a man he would have seen him from the knees up. He was sure It was a pig, and fired. The hearing will continue tomorrow.