Jury clears one gun charge - hung verdict means retrial on lesser charge

Northland farmer Paul McIntyre was justified in shooting at a thief trying to steal his quad bike in the dead of night as he believed his life was in danger, a Kaikohe jury has found.
However, the jury on Friday could not reach a decision on whether he fired his shotgun at the thief without reasonable cause and in a manner likely to endanger others.
McIntyre, 47, of Whangae, near Kawakawa, was appearing in the Kaikohe District Court charged with shooting and injuring Sam Hati, of Moerewa, with reckless disregard for the safety of others.
McIntyre had also faced an alternative charge of without reasonable cause, discharged a firearm in a manner likely to endanger the safety of others.
After a nine-hour deliberation yesterday, the eight-woman, three-man jury found McIntyre not guilty of the first charge, but could not reach an agreement on the alternative count.
Judge Michael Lance discharged the jury and consented to a request from Crown prosecutor Kim Thomas for a retrial on the second charge.
McIntyre was remanded on bail to November 11 for a date to be set for the retrial.
The charges arose after McIntyre caught Mr Hati and cousins Ned and Ray Brown stealing his quad bike on his farm late at night on October 20, 2002.
Both McIntyre and Mr Hati had fought back tears as they gave evidence during the trial _ McIntyre in describing how he felt as he confronted the thieves and Hati as he recounted being shot.
After the trial, McIntyre was relieved to have been acquitted of the more serious of the two charges, but said there was still a way to go.
He said the week-long trial had been an emotional time. Fighting the charges is believed to have cost more than $50,000, with over $20,000 of that being raised by Northland Federated Farmers.
McIntyre's lawyer, Barry Hart, said he was disappointed to have to go through a retrial, but pleased at the not guilty verdict.
McIntyre's defence in the case had been that he was trying to shoot out the rear left tyre of the ute as it was accelerating away after he had first fired a warning shot.
The second shot instead went into ute's cab and through Hati's shoulder.
Northland Federated Farmers spokesman Bill Guest said after the verdicts the organisation would continue to support McIntyre and would renew fundraising efforts to help pay for the costs of defending the charge in the retrial.
"Every farmer has got to keep supporting Paul McIntyre. Rural New Zealand has had a gutsful of violent crime and farmers getting shot by these thieves coming onto their property," Mr Guest said.
"If Paul had been found guilty it would have sent a signal to criminals that it's open licence to rip off farmers."
In his closing address to the jury, Judge Lance said it had to believe that McIntyre honestly believed his life was in danger when he fired the second shot at the ute.
The judge said if the jury believed that to be the case and that his response to that perceived threat was justified, then he had to be found not guilty on the first charge.
He said the Crown had to disprove that McIntyre was acting in self-defence when he fired.