Man sentenced for firing airgun over busy Auckland street

File photo / NZ Herald

A man who shot airgun pellets out over a busy Auckland street has been handed comunity service.

Aubrey Ivan James Wirihana-Curry faced one charge of discharging a firearm in a public place after he and three friends drunkenly shot the pellets from the balcony of an apartment in the Auckland CBD on February 1.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Stephen Butler told Whanganui District Court yesterday that some of the pellets hit "unknown objects".

He said another person in the apartment complex reported the crime.

Defence lawyer Jamie Waugh said Wirihana-Curry had been drinking with friends.

"They thought it would be a good idea to have some target practice," Mr Waugh said.

Judge Dugald Matheson said the community was "on edge with the amount of firearms being discharged".

"This was stupid behaviour and you know it," Judge Matheson told Wirihana-Curry.

He sentenced him to 40 hours' community work and ordered the airgun to be destroyed.