Doctor convicted for firing crossbow near sleeping children

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The doctor who fired a crossbow arrow, which narrowly missed sleeping children, has lost his bid for a discharge without conviction.

Nigel Alistair Kim, 50, was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court today after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of knowingly discharging a crossbow in a conservation area in breach of a hunting permit.

The Tauranga GP had been on an overnight hunting trip with his son at a campsite in the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park on August 20 last year when he fired a crossbow bolt at a noisy possum.

The metal arrow struck a tree just three metres from sleeping children.

Judge Paul Geoghegan today rejected Kim's bid for a discharge without conviction, saying he was satisfied the direct or indirect consequences of a conviction were not out of all proportion to the gravity of the offence, which was serious.

"The need for vigilance and absolute adherence to the law needed to be underlined by a conviction to send a clear message to all hunters that safety must be paramount.''

Judge Geoghegan said a discharge without conviction would not send that massage.

He convicted Kim and fined him $1000 plus court costs of $132.89. The maximum penalty is one year in prison or a $10,000 fine.

Kim had argued against conviction, saying it would impact on his medical practice and could affect his ability to carry out his charity work in the Pacific Islands.