Man remanded on shotgun charge

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32707, 9 September 1971, Page 3

Man remanded on shotgun charge

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, September 8. Mr D. G. Sinclair, S.M., today ordered a psychiatric report on a man who threatened an Onehunga sports shop assistant with a shotgun on Tuesday.

The man, who was granted interim suppression of name, was remanded in custody to September 15 for a probation report and sentence. He had pleaded guilty in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court to a charge of dealing with a firearm, a 12-guage shotgun, without reasonable cause and to a charge of unlawfully possessing ammunition —10 12-gauge shotgun cartridges. Senior-Sergeant R. V. Downie said the defendant took a taxi from his home to an Onehunga sports shop. He" asked to see some shotguns, and while the assistant’s back was turned, he loaded the gun and appar-

ently aimed at the assistant’s feet. He told the assistant to get out on to the street, but the assistant took the gun from him and put it on the counter. “The defendant then walked out of the shop. He was found walking down the street with 10 cartridges in his possession,” Mr Downie said. “In explanation, the defendant said he was going to commit suicide because he was a homosexual, and had been. receiving unsuccessful medical treatment for five or six years.” Counsel, Mr D. R. Lange, said the act was “an exhibition of self-destruction, and was not motivated to destroy anyone else.”