Drone spots unlawful hunters

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A landowner out flying a drone one morning spotted a group of strangers on his property without permission.

When they started taunting the drone, the man called police.

Raana Walter Morice was subsequently charged with unlawful hunting and unlawful possession of ammunition, to which he pleaded guilty.

He was sentenced this week in Gisborne District Court by Judge Warren Cathcart, who imposed 120 hours community work.

The sentence was also to cover Morice’s fines debt of nearly $4718, which the judge wiped.

Counsel Mana Taumaunu said Morice had minimal criminal history and was “simply a young man who enjoys hunting but realises he needs to get permission from the owners of the land before hunting”.

Judge Cathcart said he was “staggered” by the propensity of men in this region to unlawfully hunt on private land. They were trespassers with “an arrogant disposition that they did not need consent”.

That trespass in Morice’s case was aggravated by the hunting — it was his vehicle, his dogs, and his hunting equipment that the group were with.

Police initially wanted the vehicle forfeited but didn’t pursue it as it was unlicensed and unwarranted and Mr Taumaunu said it contained a lot of Morice’s work equipment.