Sanft found guilty

Auckland: A father who killed his 2yearold daughter by shooting her with a sawnoff shotgun has been found guilty of her manslaughter.

Gustav Sanft (26) has been on trial in the High Court at Auckland following the death of his daughter Amokura DanielsSanft at a home in Favona on June 2 last year.

Yesterday, a jury of seven men and five women took five hours to unanimously find him guilty on one charge of manslaughter.

Sanft earlier pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a pistol.

Prosecutors said he failed to check if the shotgun was loaded or if its safety catch was on, and not only held the weapon too close to his daughter but pointed it at her and pulled the trigger.

Defence lawyers said Sanft neither pulled the trigger nor deliberately pointed the gun at his daughter, but it instead went off in his hands unexpectedly.

He will be sentenced on September 7. — NZN