Son spared jail after freak shot kills father

Pleas by a mother and brother to spare a Northland teenager from jail after he shot dead his father were answered yesterday.
Colin Adams - who accidentally killed his father, Brian, 46, on May 16 - was instead sentenced to 300 hours community work.
The tragedy occurred when Adams was in the lounge of the family's Hukerenui home, 30km north of Whangarei, trying out a rifle he had bought on behalf of his mother as a wedding anniversary gift for his father. He had sighted the rifle on his parents' car as it was heading down the driveway and it fired as he went to lower it.
The bullet went through the lounge window and travelled 60m before piercing the rear window of the car and hit Mr Adams' head.
Adams told police he had seen his dad load the gun with a magazine that morning but thought it had been removed. He pleaded guilty in August to careless use of a firearm causing death.
Yesterday a packed Whangarei District Court heard Adams' mother Shona and his brother David plead with Judge Michael Green to spare him a jail term.
Mrs Adams said her husband's death had changed her life forever. "It is like half of me is missing," she said. Her son was still coming to terms with what he had done and would forever feel responsible for his father's death.
"What happened was a terrible accident. I do not believe Colin was in anyway responsible," she said. "I truly believe that Brian is more responsible."
Mrs Adams said Brian was a loving husband and supportive father.
"We have lost our best friend, me and the boys. Brian was a fantastic dad and the boys loved him."
David Adams told the court his father's death had left "a big hole in my heart". However, he also believed his father, by not removing the cartridge after he had loaded it, was partly responsible for what had happened.
After losing their father, David Adams said the family could not deal with seeing his brother jailed as well.
Prosecutor Kim Thomas sought a jail term saying Adams' level of culpability was high and a strong deterrent message needed to be sent. He said while Adams was young, in reality he had grown up with guns. He had used them since he was 10 and should have known better. He had seen his father load the gun and should have checked there was no ammunition in it when he went to use it.
Defence lawyer Arthur Fairley said Adams would live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life and there was nothing to be gained by sending him to jail. "He will be imprisoned forever. One hopes that with time and counselling he will overcome it, but one suspects it will be a very long time."
Despite claims by police, Adams was not familiar with the gun in question and the trigger pressure on it was much less than others he had fired. "This is a fine young man who is from a fine family who has been struck by this tragedy."
Judge Green said Adams had failed to obey the most basic principles of firearm safety by not checking whether the gun was loaded, and for that reason his culpability was high. But he could spare Adams a jail sentence _ prompting a sigh of relief from the packed public gallery.
"You have been forgiven by your family," he told Adams. "You must finally forgive yourself."