Grieving couple’s dispute ended with pellet in heart
THE grieving mother of Auckland teen Stephen Dudley told her husband to shoot her during a fiery domestic dispute last year.
In June, Mona Dudley, 39, and her husband, Brent, lost their 15-year-old son, who died during an altercation after rugby training.
A 16-year-old team-mate, who was granted permanent name suppression, admitted assaulting Stephen and was discharged without conviction last month.
At his sentencing it was revealedStephen had an undetected, pre-existing heart condition.
His parents presented a united front as they left court but three months earlier – in December last year – their frustration reached boiling point, according to a police summary of facts.
While three of their four children were away from their Kelston home, the pair began arguing.
Brent Dudley left a mattress where they had been watching television, and grabbed a .22 calibre rifle he had been using earlier in the day and thrust it into his wife’s hands. ‘‘Just shoot me then,’’ he repeatedly told her.
According to the summary of facts, Mona Dudley told him she wanted him to shoot her.
The gun was thrust back and forth until it discharged, leaving a pellet lodged inside Brent Dudley’s heart.
Mona Dudley threw the gun on to a nearby couch and continued to berate him. However, moments later her husband slumped forward, and she saw blood on his chest and hands.
She called emergency services immediately. Doctors examined the gunshot and because of the perilous position of the pellet, decided not to remove it.
Mona told police she did not know the gun had discharged.
She was initially charged with assault, which was later elevated to a count of injuring by committing an unlawful act.
A guilty plea followed shortly after her first appearance in Waitakere District Court and she will be sentenced next week.
Police said Mona Dudley had a clean criminal record and it is understood her lawyer will argue for her to be discharged without conviction.
An 18-year-old accused of the manslaughter of Stephen will go on trial in the High Court at Auckland in June.