A man who shot and killed his friend during a night time hunting trip - and later told police the victim had shot himself - had earlier smoked cannabis.
Three days later, Mark Kelvin Jefferson’s conscience caught up with him, and he confessed to accidentally shooting Stuart Stobie while hunting in the Timberlands Forest early on March 21, this year.
Justice Andrew Becroft told Jefferson today that Stobie should never have died. He said Jefferson hadn’t held a firearm licence since 2008 and was illegally hunting in the dark.
“This was more than just a tragic accident ... if you had been complying with the law, this would never have happened,” he told Jefferson, who was visibly, and audibly, upset throughout his sentencing in the High Court at Hamilton.
The 47-year-old’s lawyer, Andrew Hill, tried to convince the judge to issue a sentence of home detention, but Justice Becroft said that wasn’t going to happen.
“I simply can’t get there,” he said.
In her victim impact statement, Stobie’s daughter, Briar, said the first she knew something was up was when she received a Facebook message from an unfamiliar account, saying “sorry for your loss”.
“I thought that was strange but carried on ... but then 15 minutes later my phone rang and it was Mum.”
After being told her father had shot himself, Briar spent days racking her brain about how that could have happened.
“My Dad is a very experienced hunter and does not make mistakes, especially around gun safety.”
Later, she got another message from the same account, “to taunt me, and tell me how my Dad had shot himself, call me a liar and laugh at me”.
“I now know that [Facebook] account belongs to Mark’s partner.”
However, she said she wished Jefferson no ill will.
“I do, however, find it hard to feel forgiveness for what you have done.
“You should have known better.”
At 10pm on March 20, Jefferson and Stobie travelled by quad bike to the Timberlands Forestry Block about 7km west of Minginui.
Jefferson was carrying Stobie’s .308 bolt-action rifle fitted with a thermal scope for hunting at night.
Jefferson didn’t have a firearm licence, and it was unlikely he’d be able to get one due to his multiple firearm convictions and habitual drug use.
The pair were also not permitted to hunt in the Timberlands at night or outside of the normal hunting season between May and September.
At 1am on March 21, Jefferson sighted two deer running from the road and into the bush.
He got off the quad bike, leaving Stobie behind.
About 40m into the bush, he saw one of the deer and fired a shot. He missed.
The deer ran off but about 40m later, he fired another shot.
He hit it, but didn’t kill it, so shot it again.
During this time, Stobie moved his quad bike about 60m to 80m closer to where Jefferson had killed the deer, and stayed there.
Jefferson then used the thermal scope to find the other deer and thought he had spotted it.
He fired another shot.
But that shot struck Stobie in the head, hitting him in the left side of the mouth and exiting out through the back of his neck.
Jefferson had an immediate gut feeling he’d shot his mate and called out to him.
He got no response.
He walked to where he was and found Stobie still seated, but slumped over the quad bike.
Jefferson laid him down on the road and then lay beside him.
Shortly afterward, he rode to his brother’s house and alerted authorities, telling both that Stobie had accidentally shot himself.
He confessed to police three days later, and also admitted to smoking cannabis before heading out hunting and being a daily user of the drug.
He said he was tired that night after a long day working on the farm, but agreed to go hunting with Stobie when he turned up to visit.
Hill began by expressing his client’s remorse and “heartfelt condolences” to the Stobie family.
He explained that Stobie was a friend of Jefferson’s father who died some years ago, and Stobie had become a good friend and mentor.
Killing his friend had a “profound” impact on him, and Jefferson had given himself his own life sentence, he said.
“He’s a broken man, sir, there’s no other way to put it,” Hill said.
He’d also given up his job with the Department of Conservation, he said.
While Jefferson accepted many aspects of his prosecution, Hill submitted that the smoking of cannabis was “not a causative feature” of the shooting.
“Really it goes back to his failure to [not] identify the target.”
There was no drug testing done on Jefferson, so it could only be a neutral factor.
But Crown prosecutor Amanda Gordon said there was no drug testing because Jefferson didn’t confess until three days later.
Justice Becroft said the dangers arising from hunting “ought now to be crystal clear, not only to the hunting community but all of New Zealand”.
“Careless and irresponsible use of firearms can cause needless and devastating loss of life and unacceptable tragedy.
“All the now growing number of previous cases before the courts provide silent testimony to this very risky part of New Zealand rural life.
“The high standards for hunters set out in the Firearm’s Safety Code ought to be honoured and enforced.”
Justice Becroft said there were six aggravating features; failing to identify his target, no firearms licence, hunting without a permit, smoking cannabis, lying to police, and the impact of Stobie’s death on his family and friends.
Jefferson had also admitted to being inexperienced at using a thermal scope.
“This was more than a tragic accident, as perhaps suggested by Mr Hill and some of your referees.
“With respect, Mr Jefferson, if you had been complying with the law, this would never have happened.”
He took a starting point of five years and three months before applying 43% in discounts for his guilty pleas, attendance at restorative justice, and previous good character.
As Justice Becroft jailed Jefferson for three years, he told him that this incident “need not define you for life”.
“In one sense, it will be a life sentence for you, but I hope .... one day you can come to terms with it and that you can make a positive and meaningful contribution to the community.”
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.