Tolaga Bay hunter death: Karl Eric Peters jailed over death of John Atkins

Karl Eric Peters appears for sentencing in the High Court at Gisborne following the hunting death of John Atkins (background). Composite photo / NZME

• Karl Eric Peters has been sentenced to three years in jail for manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm without a licence and possession of cannabis for sale.
• Peters, whose firearms licence expired in August 2012, had taken a boy possum hunting in Tolaga Bay, Gisborne District, on August 24 when he failed to identify a target and the boy shot a hunter in the forehead with a .22 rifle.
• John Atkins, a 44-year-old father-of-three, later died in Gisborne Hospital.

A man has been jailed for three years after a boy accidentally shot and killed a fellow hunter in Gisborne.

Karl Eric Peters was sentenced in the High Court at Gisborne today following the death of John Atkins.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm without a licence and possession of cannabis for sale in October.

Atkins, 44, was shot in the forehead and critically injured while hunting in Tolaga Bay, in the Gisborne district on August 24. The father-of-three died several hours later in Gisborne Hospital.

John Atkins, 44, of Tolaga Bay, was shot and killed on a hunting trip on Tauwhareparae Rd on Saturday, August 24, 2024. Photo / Supplied

Peters appeared for sentencing before Justice Peter Churchman today and Media were given permission to photograph him.

The agreed summary of facts says Atkins and three friends went hunting along Tauwhareparae Rd with pig dogs and carried thermal imaging equipment for spotting wild animals on August 24.

About 10.30pm, Peters was with a boy possum hunting in the same general area, giving him a .22 rifle fitted with a thermal imaging scope while he used a hand-held thermal monocular.

Peters does not hold a firearms licence because it expired in August 2012. Because of activities involving poaching wildlife, a further firearms licence application was declined.

Atkins and his friends came across the pair during the night and were aware they were hunting from his vehicle on the road.

Driving slowly along the road, the boy spotted heat sources and identified possums through his scope while Peters confirmed targets using the thermal monocular and advised him to take the shot.

The boy would shoot from the vehicle or at the side of the vehicle and then retrieve the possum.

After shooting several possums, the boy picked up another heat source at the side of the road behind a damaged culvert embedded in silt and debris.

Peters did not check with the thermal monocular or scope and therefore did not identify the target but gave the okay to take the shot.

The boy fired a shot from the vehicle into what he believed was a possum.

Peters told the boy to retrieve the possum and he went to do so before returning a short time later, crying heavily and distressed, and told him he had shot a man.

Peters immediately went to check and found Atkins was still alive and bleeding. He placed him into the recovery position and went to seek help at a neighbouring property.

Emergency services were notified and Atkins died a few hours later in Gisborne Hospital. A post-mortem examination determined he died of a single gunshot wound to the forehead.

Police seized a .270 calibre rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a high-powered air rifle, as well as numerous rounds of live ammunition from an unlocked wardrobe in a bedroom at Peters’ address.

Police also found 49 ounces of “well-manicured cannabis head material” carefully packaged in seven large plastic bags with an estimated street value of about $14,700, according to the summary of facts.