A man left two young boys on a beach at d'Urville Island with a loaded rifle while he went off fishing and drinking.
Now he’s been told off by a judge for his “stupid behaviour” that could have set the boys up for a lifetime of grief, after they tried to shoot a pig.
“You left a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old with a loaded .308 rifle to go hunting on the island while you went drinking and fishing.
“God knows who they might have shot and killed or wounded,” Judge Tony Snell said in a scathing sentencing of Aaron Grant Pickering.
The 50-year-old, who did not have a firearms licence after it was earlier revoked, later claimed to have tossed the rifle into the sea off d’Urville Island.
Judge Snell said there was no way the boys could have known if anyone was nearby when they shot at a pig from the beach.
To put it mildly, he said it was “stupid behaviour” on Pickering’s part, that might have had devastating consequences for the boys if they had injured someone else.
“It was a massive recipe for disaster,” and the most serious offending of its type, Judge Snell said.
Pickering, who was said by his lawyer to spend long periods at sea as a crew member on a Niwa vessel, admitted in the Nelson District Court charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful hunting.
The police summary of facts said the hunting trip was on private land on d’Urville Island. His firearms licence had been revoked in 2009 after a final protection order was made against him.
In April 2013 Pickering inquired about getting his firearms licence back but was told that a protection order was still in place, and to investigate how it might be discharged. The police summary of facts said the order remains in place.
On January 8 Pickering, who lived in the Rai Valley, took the boys on the trip.
At about 7pm that night he dropped the boys on a beach with the loaded rifle, which had a telescopic scope and a suppressor, and went off to a fishing spot.
The police said Pickering continued drinking as he fished.
A short time later the 10 year-old shot at a pig, but after a short search he and the other boy were unable to find the animal.
Pickering tried to start his boat, but couldn’t because of mechanical problems, so signalled to the driver of a boat nearby, who came to help.
Pickering asked the people on board to collect the boys off the island, but when they found them, they asked the youngsters who had given them permission to hunt there.
Neither was able to answer, and continually changed their story, the police said.
Pickering later told the police that he had the rifle to “put meat on the table” and that he had thrown it into the ocean on return to Admiralty Bay.
Defence lawyer Mark Dollimore said Pickering had “shot himself in the foot,” with the charges, and accepted it was unlikely that the police or court might believe the rifle had been ditched.
Judge Snell said he had read that with a “huge amount of scepticism”.
“I don’t believe it has been thrown away”, he said.
Judge Snell said there were several aggravating features to Pickering’s offending, including that he had been disqualified from holding a firearms licence, he was hunting on private land, which the owner knew nothing about, and he had left the boys with a loaded rifle.
He said there was a lot at stake for Pickering, including his employment and in his personal life, but it was a “foolish act on many levels”.
Judge Snell said in sentencing Pickering to 120 hours of community work, and fining him $2000, that he was unlikely to ever get his firearms licence back now.
He noted Pickering’s previous offending, and said if there was any repeat of a firearms charge, he would likely end up in jail.
Judge Snell added a final warning on Pickering’s file.
