Man fatally shot friend after threats, court told

File photo / Greg Bowker

A man shot dead his friend at close range with his pig-hunting rifle when the friend became violent and abusive towards his partner after a drinking session, a court has heard.

The Crown alleges Alan Christopher Paul Gundry, 30, murdered Orewa man Gene Patrick Atkins, 28, on January 12 at Gundry's Rodney home.

Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb, in his opening address at the High Court at Auckland today, said the shooting was the unacceptable consequence of "a bout of drinking" and was a "deliberate, excessive response".

He said Gundry - an experienced pig hunter - shot Atkins with a hunting rifle at close range after Atkins was said to have threatened Gundry's partner, Nicole McDonald, on a stairwell.

Atkins was at the couple's house looking for his partner, Sarah Jane Dean, who he had argued with earlier in the evening.

He was said to have kicked her car headlights out and swung the car door at her when she tried to leave their home. She was trying to leave after Atkins damaged her property and thrown some of her belongings onto the backyard.

Ms Dean fled to Gundry's home and asked if she could stay the night. But about quarter of an hour later Atkins arrived and began fighting with some men there, who he had been drinking beers on the deck with a few hours before.

He was heard to yell "Get Sarah here - or else" before he went looking for her. He met Gundry's partner on the stairwell, Ms Mcdonald, and nudged her with his forearm.

Ms Dean was hiding in a bathroom. She emerged to see Gundry loading bullets into the rifle. Mr Glubb said Ms Dean would tell the court she told Gundry not to shoot him only "scare him".

Gundry was said to have replied: "I can't do that, he's threatened my partner, my family."

She then heard two shots.

"The accused fired. One shot struck him in the right side of the abdomen and passed directly through the body exiting near the waistband and being embedded in the woodwork of the staircase."

The second bullet "shattered" his sternum, went through his liver before lodging just under the skin on his back.

Atkins stumbled before falling onto the ground. "Gene Atkins was dropped effectively as he was advancing. He died almost immediately on the cold concrete surface at the entrance of the house," Mr Glubb said.

Gundry's lawyer Graeme Newell said self-defence would be a key issue at the trial. He would ask questions about the nature of Atkins and other aggressive incidents he'd been involved with, which were important because Gundry knew Atkins and his history.

Self-defence was a complete defence of the charge of murder, he said.

A jury of seven women and five men has been selected to hear the trial which is expected to last all week.