A man shot his daughter with a paintball gun because she would not tidy her room, a court has heard.
Michael Saunders, 42, appeared in the Invercargill District Court this week after pleading guilty to recklessly discharging a paintball gun.
A police summary of facts said on November 27 the man’s chickens escaped from their coop and he used a paintball gun to round them up.
He went inside with the paintball gun and told his 12-year-old girl to clean her room.
She refused and an argument broke out.
The defendant angrily fired two shots at the victim — both of which connected.
He told police he was aiming at the wall, but the shots had “obviously both got her”.
Judge Thomas Ingram said it was a “stupid” thing to do, but Saunders had kept his record clean for 14 years.
He deferred the defendant’s sentence for 12 months.
“Buy a Lotto ticket on the way home,” Judge Ingram said to the man as he left the court.
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