Hunter killed his friend

Press, 3 June 1983, Page 4

Hunter killed his friend

PA Napier The “tragic” story of how a Morrinsville man shot and killed a close friend while deer hunting in the Urewera National Park was told in the District Court at Wairoa yesterday. Peter Francis McVeigh, aged 29, a painter, admitted causing the death of Brian Leslie Rowe, also of Morrinsville, by carelessly using a .243 Remington rifle on April 3. Prosecuting, Senior-Ser-geant J. H. Lovatt, said the two experienced hunters climbed up a ridge overlooking a small clearing in the Huiarau Ranges, near Lake Waikaremoana. They had heard a noise they thought was a deer and

with the light fading, Mr Rowe climbed down to the left while McVeigh went right . .

Mr Lovatt said McVeigh heard a noise by the clearing, saw something moving through his telescopic sights, thought it was a deer and fired. He had then called to his friend. No reply came but there was the flickering of a torch. When McVeigh got down to the clearing his friend was “getting to his feet with a gaping wound to his throat.” McVeigh had tried to help him walk, carried him about 100 metres and then took off his clothes to cover Mr Rowe while he went for help. McVeigh then ran back

with his sleeping bag to find his friend dead. Mr Lovatt said the postmorten examination showed that Mr Rowe died from asphyxiation, caused by a compound fracture of the larynx. McVeigh’s counsel, Mr P. J. Dymond, said McVeigh and Mr Rowe had been hunting together for several years. Judge Tucker said the incident was a tragic matter. “In your years of experience you must surely have learned you do not fire until the target is clearly identified,” he told McVeigh. McVeigh was find $l5O, and ordered to forfeit his rifle.