A ‘truly tragic’ accident
Coroner laments death of teen on duck hunt with no adult guidance
No adults were supervising a group of teenage hunters when one was shot and killed in a “truly tragic” accident. Jamie Johnston, 15, died from a gunshot wound to the head while duck hunting with friends near Matata, in the Bay of Plenty, two years ago. He was sitting in a maimai — a shooters’ hut — when the shotgun he was holding went off. His friends saw him fall off the chair; the police investigation found the safety mechanism was off. With the shooting season to start this weekend, Coroner Wallace Bain hopes the release of his findings into the death of the Whakatane teen will act as a timely reminder of hunting safety. This was supported by Jamie’s parents, Colin Johnston and Ginny Bellamy, who wanted the full details of Jamie’s death to be published.
They thought an adult was on the hunting trip with the group of teenagers, who were experienced with firearms. There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol being consumed.
But the man — who has permanent name suppression — did not have a gun licence. At first he told police he was with the teenagers in the maimai until a few minutes before the tragedy, but later admitted they were unsupervised.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal nuisance for failing to discharge a legal duty by allowing underage in- dividuals to be in charge of a firearm. He was convicted and discharged. Jamie’s death was “truly tragic”, said Bain. “It is very dangerous to let even a single, unlicensed minor to be unsupervised around firearms . . . adults need to be with minors to supervise every move . . . every time firearms are used.”
“Young lives are very precious and constant supervision is needed. This is a death that should not have happened and could have been avoided.”
In an interview after the death of their youngest child on Mother’s Day 2015, Ginny Bellamy and Colin Johnston remembered Jamie as cheeky and handsome, with a love of cooking and sport, especially duck hunting.
“We don’t go duck shooting any more,” Bellamy said last night.
“There’s no point. It was all about family and tradition and being together.” She urged those who were shooting this weekend to never become complacent with gun safety, especially when it came to supervising minors.
“There is a human cost to complacency. Jamie is not just a statistic. He
is a human face, with a dad and brothers . . . it’s just so terrible.”
Bellamy, who is an assistant principal at Trident High School, where Jamie would have been a Year 13 student now, felt let down by the adult she believed was supervising that day. “It was very upsetting . . . but there was no point going after them.
“That was the first time we’d let one of the boys go shooting with anyone other than a close family member . . . we just assumed everybody had the same standards [of safety].”
She praised the support of Detective Sergeant Ant Hay, who told the Herald it was one of the saddest cases he had ever investigated.
He also urged hunters to follow the rules, especially around active supervision by licence holders. “Following the rules is not about spoiling any- one’s fun. It’s about making sure everyone comes home safely.
“Things can go horribly wrong, very quickly,” the police officer said.
Bain stressed the importance of care as duck shooting began. “Hunting safety is paramount and the importance of the messages for hunters cannot be overemphasised.”
In the findings for Jamie Johnston’s death, the coroner referred to his previous findings in the 2012 death of James Dodd, in the hope hunters would take heed of the wider safety messages. Dodd was hunting when he was mistaken for a deer by his friend and shot.
After the inquiry into his death, the Arms Code was changed to include Bain’s safety recommendations.
“Once hunters hunting together have lost sight of each other, they must assume their companion to be within their firing zone,” the code now states. “Hunters must cease hunting if visual contact with that companion is lost, and not resume . . . until visual contact is made and confirmed.”
Firearms expert Joe Green, a former police inspector who was in charge of arms control in New Zealand, says the change was important.
This was because many hunters shot their partners even when they were “sure” they had positively identified them as a target, such as a deer.