September 20, 2011

Gondola struck with paintball shots

By Anne Clarkson at the Rangiora Court House

A teenager who fired paintball shots at two cabins on the Christchurch Gondola from a car on the Summit Road, frightened a woman passenger who threw herself on the floor.

The other cabin he fired at had a father and his two young daughters in it, and a paintball shot hit the window by his three-year-old.

Ryan Alexander Low, 18, was being sentenced in the Christchurch District Court at the Rangiora Court House after admitting presenting an airgun, and careless use of it, on December 26 last year.

Judge Alistair Garland said the woman passenger thought the threat was very real, and she was very frightened.

He said Low was an apprentice electrician with an excellent academic record. His conduct was out of character, and he had sent letters of apology to his victims.

But it was reasonable to expect there would be people in the gondolas, Judge Garland said, and he believed Low had fired the shots deliberately at the gondolas as he hit them at least twice.

He told Low he was a young man with considerable potential and while the victims were very frightened at the time they would be reassured knowing the firearm had less capability than they thought.

He fined Low $800, and ordered the destruction of the gun.