Hunter's family oppose charges

The family of a Taupo man killed by his hunting mate on Saturday say they will be asking police not to charge his friend with his death.

William Gillies, 55, was shot by his best mate, Bernard Lee, who mistook him for a deer.

The pair were in the spot where they have hunted for 30 years, in the rugged Hauhungaroa Range in Pureora Forest, 15km west of Lake Taupo.

They had a routine, Mr Gillies' daughter Gaylene said, but about 9am on Saturday it all went wrong.

Her father had gone to flush out a deer they heard roar but instead of heading back to regroup with his hunting mate as he normally did he chased it.

"Bernie said he thought that he was following the antlers and obviously he thought it was the deer he was shooting at.

"Whether it was the deer and dad came in between ... ?"

Neither was wearing high-visibility clothing but both were experienced hunters and aware of safety measures, Ms Gillies said.

Yesterday afternoon a distraught Mr Lee sat and explained to the Gillies family what had happened.

After the families talked Ms Gillies said her family did not want Mr Lee charged and would do everything they could to try to stop it.

She said the family were angry at police comments that the shooting was not just an accident.

"We think it should come back to what we think and ... we're not at all taking it like that.

"We've already lost our father and we don't want their family to lose their father just because of it."

She said it could easily have been Mr Gillies that shot Mr Lee.

Senior Constable Barry Shepherd said the Gillies family had not approached police yet about not laying charges.

He said the police investigation was still ongoing and no charges had been laid yet.

"If someone is charged with an offence and the victim said, 'No, I don't want them charged,' then it's better it goes to the court and the judge hears all of that rather than us," Mr Shepherd said.

Ms Gillies said: "The thing that makes us happy is that dad has gone doing something that he loved."

The pair had listened to a stag roaring in the distance of their hut the night before the shooting and made a pact. "They thought, 'we'll get that in the morning'."

But walking through the ranges, rain started to set in, Ms Gillies said.

"Bernie said to dad, 'Shall we throw it in?', and dad said, 'We'll just keep going a bit longer, until 10am, and then we'll pull the pin.'

"That's when they heard the roar and that's when it all happened."

It was 10am when Mr Gillies' wife, Bronwyn, got a cellphone call from Mr Lee.

She initially thought it was her daughter Debbie's partner from England, whom she had called because her daughter was not well.

"All mum could get out of him was that he had shot dad and to call 111. She was just winding up in shock."

* Mr Gillies' funeral will be held at St Andrew's Anglican Church, in Taupo, at 2pm today.