Van was hit during air pistol target practice
A 21-year-old Papanui man has admitted recklessly firing an air pistol after his target practice caused Friday afternoon traffic chaos in the streets near Northlands shopping centre.
Police placed cordons to stop traffic near Benjamin Harold Eden’s address on the corner of the Main North Road and Sawyers Arms Road on October 10.
They moved in and arrested Eden after a van passenger saw him fire a pellet out of his bedroom window. Eden said he was firing the .177 calibre air pistol at a target, but it hit the van out on the street.
He had pleaded not guilty but admitted firing the airgun recklessly after the police agreed to withdraw a charge of possession of an offensive weapon – a large machete-style sword – which was found when the police searched his car after the incident.
Defence counsel at the case review hearing in the Christchurch District Court, David Goldwater, said Eden agreed to vacate his guilty plea and accept that he had fired the pistol recklessly. He could pay a fine, but he had recently lost his job.
Judge Alistair Garland said it was fortunate that Eden’s shot had not hit anyone. “You could have hurt them. These air pistols now have the capacity to fire these pellets ar a fair rate of knots. You need to be more careful and make sure that the area behind your field of sight is safe.”
He noted that Eden had only one previous conviction, for an assault in 2013.
He fined Eden $400 and ordered the destruction of the pistol.
Category: News
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