Gun play tragedy
Brothers playing with loaded shotgun results in a tragic death, reports. Calls for a natural playground in Palmerston North
discharge.
Defence lawyer Steve Winter said Alex Gideon lived at home with his mother, who was bringing up children and grandchildren on her own. "Life is not easy for this family."
The photos leading up to the shooting showed the brothers enjoying each others company, Winter said.
"From outside looking in, no sense can be made of the decisionmaking of these two brothers on this fatal day," Winter said.
"The only explanation is that this was a chance for these two brothers to escape reality, acting out a lifestyle that might seem great on the small screen or in music.
"The brothers were enjoying time together, pretending to be gangsters and taking photos of themselves.
"They were acting out fantasies one might expect from teenagers.
"Who got hurt here was mostly a matter of chance."
Sentencings often put the emphasis on the victims, and Alex Gideon was one in this situation, Winter said.
"His family don’t want him to go to prison. They want to take this journey together. It would be highly doubtful Tyrone would want his brother to go to jail."
Winter asked the judge to impose home detention, but acknowledged it was "a big ask" in the circumstances.
While Alex Gideon told police about where the gun came from and did not have it for protection, it was still an illegal weapon.
Furthermore, he loaded it, pointed it at his brother and had his fingers on the trigger.
"You broke every single safety rule."
Alex Gideon had left school in his early teens, had 11 previous convictions, and was on a sentence of supervision at the time of his brother’s death.
The judge gave a starting point of four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, and made deductions for youth, an early guilty plea and remorse. He said he then had to consider if two years’ and nine months’ achieved the principles of sentencing. "It will hold you accountable for the harm to did to Tyrone, your family and the community. "It will promote responsibility, denounce similar conduct, deter others, assist in your rehabilitation, takes into the account the gravity of your offending and is the least restrictive outcome." Alex Gideon threw his shoes from the dock into the the court before being led to the cells. His family wept.