Kiwi's death not an accident - Court of Appeal

Brent Dumper. Photo / Supplied

The Queensland Court of Appeal has dismissed suggestions the death of New Zealand man Brent Dumper, a Sunshine Coast real estate agent, at his daughter's house-warming party on the Gold Coast was an accident.

Bevan Carl Forsythe has appealed against his murder conviction, arguing the jury verdict in February was unreasonable and the trial justice erred in his directions about an accident defence.

He argued the jury should have considered an accident defence because it was his evidence that the firearm discharged during the struggle and he did not foresee the shooting of anyone despite heading home to retrieve the gun after being offended.

Forsythe went to trial after pleading not guilty to murder, though he had admitted he was criminally responsible for Mr Dumper's death and had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

He shot Mr Dumper, 46, a former Waiuku antiques dealer, at point-blank range at a party to celebrate his daughter, Jessie Anderson, moving into her home.

Ms Anderson had moved in with her partner, whose second cousin, Forsythe, lived next door.

Justice Cate Holmes, in a judgment handed down today, said there was no substantial miscarriage of justice and there was nothing in the evidence which raised accident, other than that of an unwilled act.

She said the relevant act in each case was Forsythe discharging the gun and if it were willed, ``there was no room for the possibility that (Forsythe) had performed it without foreseeing the result''.

``In other words, that he had discharged a loaded shotgun with other persons in his immediate vicinity without foreseeing grievous bodily harm or death; let alone that an ordinary person in his position would not reasonably have foreseen those eventualities,'' she said.

Forsythe also shot a second man, Michael McMillan, but he managed to push the shotgun away.

The pellets from the blast that followed put holes in his clothing and grazed his stomach.

The jury found Forsythe guilty of attempting to murder Mr McMillan.

- APN Newsdesk