Father admits accidentally shooting son dead

A Southland man has admitted accidentally shooting dead his son during a hunting trip to Stewart Island in March.

Stephen Phillip Long, 61, has pleaded guilty to a charge of careless use of a firearm causing the death of his 24-year-old son Samuel Phillip Long on March 23.

Long was wiping away tears in the dock as police prosecutor Phil Berryman read the summary of facts in court yesterday morning.

Berryman said the father and son were part of a five-person group on Stewart Island hunting for white-tailed deer when the shooting occurred.

At 9am on March 23, Samuel Long left the hut they had slept in overnight, dressed in camouflage clothing and wearing a camouflage cap and carrying a backpack.

His father left the hut 45 minutes later, also wearing camouflage hunting gear.

He reached an area of bush and saw movement in the bush that he believed was two white-tailed deer.

He told police he spent two or three minutes confirming this with both the naked eye and also looking through his rifle scope at different magnifications to identify the deer, Berryman said.

Long also moved to his left and right to clearly identify his target.

He told police he believed one of the deer moved away leaving the remaining animal facing towards him and slightly down hill.

Long told police the head of what he thought was the remaining deer went up and down on four occasions as if it was feeding and he believed it was what he would expect of a white-tailed deer.

He said what he believed was a deer lifted its head and he believed he saw two prongs on top of each antler on its head and from the grey colouring believed the animal was a young white-tailed buck.

He aimed and fired at what he believed was the deer’s head and neck from his Tikka 7mm .08 rifle.

‘‘The defendant then walked forward to find he had fatally shot the victim through the head,’’ Berryman said.

Long later told police his son was supposed to be at another hunting area, but believed he may have heard him coming up the ridge and waited to see what it was.

He told police they both would have yelled out if they had any doubt over what they were seeing.

Long shot his son from a distance of 20 metres, police said.

Long’s lawyer, John Fraser, applied for a discharge without conviction.

Judge Christina Cook said Long had pleaded guilty but she did not enter a conviction yesterday.

She put the matter off until August 4 for sentencing and ordered a presentence report to consider home detention or community detention.

Long was remanded at large.