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A Tauranga farmhand who shot an elderly man in the chest with a semi-automatic airgun was given 220 hours' community work and ordered to pay $500 to his victim for emotional harm yesterday.
Rob Kilgour, 21, who admitted one charge each of unlawfully carrying an airgun, possession of an airgun while under the influence of alcohol, and discharging a firearm in a public place, was sentenced in Tauranga District Court.
The court was told that Kilgour's 68-year-old victim reported being shot in the chest with the paintball airgun in his front garden about 7pm on December 16.
He was not badly hurt but was upset.
Not long afterward, Kilgour also shot at two 15-year-old youths standing across the road.
Police found Kilgour, who was drunk, nearby carrying the air rifle and a bag containing two pistols.
Kilgour's lawyer John Holmes told Judge Louis Bidois that his client didn't know what he was doing at the time but had realised the seriousness of his actions and the effect on his elderly victim after reading his victim impact statement. He urged that Kilgour be allowed to make amends through community service.
Judge Bidois told Kilgour that deterrent sentences of imprisonment were well justified in these cases.
"However, because you have a steady job and have shown genuine remorse and motivation to address your problems with alcohol, I am prepared to deal with you by way of a community-based sentence," the judge said.
Kilgour was ordered to undergo a six- month period of supervision including attending a violence prevention programme and any other courses or counselling as directed by the Probation Service.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
