A man convicted of poaching is a "cold-blooded murderer", says the family whose beloved pet deer was shot and butchered on site.
Mark Anthony Walter, 62, at the Dunedin District Court last week, admitted unlawfully hunting but told the Otago Daily Times he did not think he was shooting a tame animal.
"You've got to be a hunter to know: sometimes you do get into chase mode and make decisions you regret later," he said.
The Jehovah's Witness was adamant the animal he killed was a feral hind he had tracked over several properties, on one of which he was permitted to hunt.
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Advertise with NZME.But Teresa Dynes, who was given "Dansey" at 3 weeks old in 2016, said there was no chance she could have escaped the Ocean View paddock she shared with six sheep.
"Dansey looked at me as her mother," she said.
"When I weaned her she would come down every night at 7pm and call to me and I would go over and give her a kiss good night."
Dynes said a few days after the hind was shot on November 11, she went searching for her and quickly realised something was wrong.
First she found thick patches of Dansey's hair, followed by areas of blood then the grisly discovery of the gut bag and other parts the poacher had left behind.
Her children later found the pet's head.
"[It was] absolutely horrifying," Dynes said.
"It was honestly the worst sight ever. I will never get that vision out of my mind."
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Advertise with NZME.Her thoughts immediately turned to Walter, who just seven months earlier had asked her permission to hunt on the property. She had firmly declined and said she told him about Dansey.
Walter denied he knew about the pet's existence and questioned why he would butcher the animal on site if he knew it was so dear to the family.
"If my actions on the given day have caused them trauma, I apologise for that," he said.
How would his actions be seen in light of his faith? "We're imperfect people," he said.
Dynes, though, called Walter "a monster" and likened his actions to those of Waitati horse-stabber Reg Ozanne.
"To me she was as important a family member as any pet dog, cat, horse — she was very, very special," she said.
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Advertise with NZME."Walter is not a 'hunter', he's nothing more than a cold-blooded murderer."
Dynes, a former firearms safety examiner, said if he had missed Dansey the bullet would have likely hit the family home — another suggestion the defendant denied.
She now worried what more the man was capable of.
The defendant said he had done prison time many years ago for selling large quantities of cannabis to undercover police, and admitted he was not "a little goodie-two-shoes", but assured the family he wished them no ill-will.
Since the shooting, police had confiscated 30 firearms from Walter's home and his firearms licence had been revoked.
"I can't even have a damn air rifle now. I've got rabbits running round here. I'll have to throw stones at them," he said.
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Advertise with NZME.Walter, who is on bail, will be sentenced next month and said he hoped for a community-based sentence as he was not a risk to society.
"It wasn't a dangerous mistake, it was a hunter's mistake," he claimed.
