Poachers kill stag and goat
Two men have admitted poaching a wild stag and a goat from a Canterbury safari park.
Tamati John Nelson, 30, of Oxford, and McKenzie Temuera Priest, 23, both admitted charges of killing two animals on the Coal Creek Estate without the authority of the owner of the land.
A third man, aged 18, who was allegedly part of the group of hunters on the June 24 excursion has also been charged. He is scheduled to make his first appearance in the Invercargill District Court on October 30.
The red stag the men shot would have been worth $2000 as a trophy at the Coal Creek Estate game park at Oxford, and the goat would have been worth $1300.
The pair have been remanded on bail for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on January 24.
Judge Stephen O’Driscoll asked for presentence reports to assess their suitability for home or community detention, and a report on their ability to pay reparations to the game park.
He also referred the case for a possible restorative justice meeting between the game park and the hunters, where apologies could be offered.
Police prosecutor Aja Trinder said the group went for a hunt on the Department of Conservation land at the end of Trig Road, Oxford.
‘‘They walked the DOC land up to a clearing where it borders a neighbouring private safari park, Coal Creek Estate.’’
From the DOC land, they could see a red stag in a paddock on the estate and decided to shoot it. After killing it, they entered the private property through a hole in a 2 metre deer fence to recover the trophy head and some of the meat.
They then saw a goat in a neighbouring paddock with 25cm horns. Priest used another hunter’s rifle to shoot and kill it.
They took the goat’s head and the stag’s head and meat before leaving the estate. After the incident, police said social media and word of mouth had led to the arrests.
Priest admitted being on the estate and told police he was ‘‘super sorry for being a complete idiot’’, and claimed that he would not have done it if he had known the land was a game park. Nelson admitted his part in the offending but initially claimed he did not realise he had walked on to private property.
The police are asking for reparation totalling $3300 for the trophy value of the two animals.