Dialogue: Sad story of farm killing should serve as warning

By ELEANOR BLACK

Picture an idyllic farm. Imagine the sunlight glancing off the fat flanks of fluffy sheep, amiable cows munching on sweet grass and a wholesome family sweating through a summer afternoon picking strawberries.

Now tell me, in that pretty rural scene you just conjured up in your mind, is there a trespasser hidden below the horizon line, tending a cannabis crop on this farm, poaching trout from the stream that runs through it, or stealing livestock?

Of course not, and yet that is the reality for many rural landowners in this country.

They are appalled and frightened at the cheek of a handful of lazy criminals who have no respect for property law and believe it is their right to make use of other people's land.

The issue was crystallised in the High Court at Rotorua this week when a 27-year-old man from Paengaroa, a tiny rural outpost 11km southeast of Te Puke, was found guilty of manslaughter for shooting a man who had been sneaking around on the family farm cultivating cannabis.

Brendon MacDonald was on trial for murder but a jury of five women and seven men was unable to find him guilty of intentionally killing Grant Bourne, 36, on the afternoon of January 14 last year.

MacDonald, a shy woodcutter who had never been in trouble with the law before, cried when he realised that his blind shot into the bush had taken a man's life.

Obviously, he never should have shot a .308 hunting rifle in the direction of a human being in the first place, but the circumstances were complicated.

The MacDonald family, like everyone else living in remote Maniatutu Road - at least half an hour away from police help - were well aware of what trespassers had been doing on their property and were fed up.

Several farmers had stumbled across tripwires and booby traps protecting dope plots hidden in thick bush on their properties. One man whose sheep had ambled into a fragrant patch of cannabis while grazing, and chewed it to bits, had his mailbox shot in retaliation.

By the time Grant Bourne was shot, farmers were frightened and angry and they didn't have much sympathy for the victim.

This week in Rotorua, those who turned up in court each day to support MacDonald were united in their conviction that he had actually done them a favour by making it deadly clear that the people of Paengaroa have no patience for those who take advantage of their isolation.

It is a tough stance and one which is a little hard to swallow. Most people would agree that a man who is tending a patch of weed does not deserve to die for making the mistake of growing it on someone else's land.

But I can see where the farmers are coming from, too. They are hardworking people with simple expectations. Fairness is a virtue they hold in high esteem, and there is nothing fair about your land being used for someone else's gain.

When Brendon MacDonald ran down the gully at the back of the family farm armed with a hunting rifle last summer, he was doing what any other landowner might have done. He has been paying for his bravado ever since, with a heavy guilt he will carry for the rest of his life.

Perhaps his sad story should serve as a warning. People in rural New Zealand, where protection lies not with the cops but the gun cupboard in the family homestead, are feeling vulnerable.

They want help. They have pleaded with Parliamentarians and the police. They have proved that they will take matters into their own hands if they deem it necessary. A young man has died and another has ruined his life.

What happened to Brendon MacDonald and Grant Bourne could easily happen again.