Man counselled mate over his aggression

A jury decided Alan Gundry had no choice but to shoot. Photo / Greg Bowker

Alan Gundry had spoken to his friend Gene Atkins about his aggressive streak long before the night he had to shoot him dead.

He told Mr Atkins there were other ways to deal with problems than violence and urged him to talk things through before he reacted.

The two had been friends for years, confided in each other, and Mr Atkins had even stayed at the semi-rural Dairy Flat property, north of Auckland, where he was shot twice by Mr Gundry as he stormed through the house in a drunken rage.

This week, Mr Gundry was acquitted of his murder, after an eight-day trial in the High Court at Auckland.

The jury -in an 11-to-one verdict - also cleared him of manslaughter, clearly believing he was acting in self-defence when he fired two shots from his pig-hunting rifle towards his advancing friend.

The killing came at the end of a tumultuous evening that saw drinking, tears, punches, threats and finally a death.

Mr Atkins' partner, Sarah Jane Dean, had cooked a big meal of corned beef and taken it to the house for everyone to share as they drank on the deck on a warm summer evening on January 12 in what he prosecution called a "happy social gathering".

The seeds of the argument were sown when Mr Atkins spoke to Ms Dean by phone. She was expecting everyone at the house she shared with him for dinner.

But there was some miscommunication and no one arrived.

Annoyed, she took the meal of corned beef around to the house Mr Gundry shared with his partner, two daughters and a boarder, exchanging words with Mr Atkins soon after she arrived.

Sensing her mood, he was said to have told her in the hall: "If you want to go, go."

But it was Mr Atkins who left abruptly. He returned home and threw some of her most valued things, including photos of her dead brother, onto the drive. She followed him home, where there was a row.

They argued, she left and he followed her back to Mr Gundry's house.

There Mr Atkins punched a dinner guest to the ground, before running through the house searching for Ms Dean, who had locked herself in the bathroom.

As he searched for her he met Mr Gundry, who was alarmed at what was happening and got his gun from the garage.

No one apart from those two know exactly what happened next, but within seconds, two shots were fired and Mr Atkins was dead.

After his acquittal, Mr Gundry spoke of his friendship with Mr Atkins.

He told the Weekend Herald they were "good friends" but not best mates.

Mr Gundry said he had a tendency to "take on people and of seeing trouble" and trying to help them. One such person was Mr Atkins.

He told him there were other ways of dealing with things, apart from aggression, and encouraged him to talk things through.

At the time of his death, Mr Atkins was awaiting trial on a grievous bodily harm charge after an incident in a bar where a man had a glass pushed into his face, causing temporary loss of sight in one eye.