Hunter who killed best friend

[elklover]

A Wanaka hunter who shot and killed his best friend after mistaking him for a deer on December 19 last year has been sentenced to seven months' home detention.

"Is this enough?"

[southwind]

I suppose I would have to know the facts. 7 months at home doesn't sound like much but you still have to live with it the rest of your life.

To me the circumstances mean everything.

[gizmo1]

seven months is very lite. it is called knowing your target and whats behind it before shooting.

[dahlmer]

Tough to know for sure, but if we assume it was unintentional then I don't know what value a prison sentence provides. The poor guy has to live the rest of his life knowing he shot and killed his best friend. I can't imagine any worse punishment than that. Especially with the knowledge that had he just followed one of the cardinal rules of handling a firearm it all could have been avoided.

[wingmaster36]

My wife served on jury duty on a similar case several years ago. She still cries over it. It's not so cut and dry when you've lived it. Sad any way you look at it.

[killerbee]

I'm agreeing with the majority here.
I gotta know the circumstance before I make a judgement.
What happened?
if the guy was being a drunk idiot then NO, thats not near enough!
"BUT" was this a freak accident that although avoidable I'm sure, was just a HORRIBLE trip gone bad? yea, that might be enough- topping that off with knowing you killed your best friend, AND LIVING WITH THAT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE- that's still a pretty steep imprisonment for a person .

[elklover]

They both were drunked.

[Mularcher]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10805799

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/ ... -detention

[TheHardWay]

Drunk or not, I still don't think I could ever confuse a human being for a deer.

[Mularcher]

He shot at a reflection of his friend eye's thinking it was a deer which means he was hunting deer at night drunk, more than one bad decision there.