A Tauranga doctor who fired a crossbow arrow into a tree just metres from sleeping children is fighting to escape conviction.
Dr Nigel Kim, 50, pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court today to a charge of knowingly discharging a crossbow in a conservation area in breach of a hunting permit.
The Department of Conservation prosecution relates to an incident last August 20 when Kim and his son were on an overnight deer hunting trip in the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park.
About 10pm on hearing a possum making a noise outside the Hurunui Hut where they were staying, Kim left with a high-powered crossbow and torch to try to kill the pest.
About 15m from the hut he fired the crossbow in the possum's direction but missed and the arrow ended up embedded in a stump 3 metres from a tent where children were sleeping.
