• A man has pleaded guilty in the High Court at Gisborne to manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm without a licence and possession of cannabis for sale. 
• The defendant, whose firearms licence expired in August 2012, had taken his 10-year-old son possum hunting in Tolaga Bay, Gisborne District, on August 24 when he failed to identify a target and his son 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 failed to confirm whether the heat signature his 10-year-old son had sighted with his unlicensed rifle was a possum and let him take the shot that killed a hunter. 

John 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. 

The father of the child who shot and killed him pleaded guilty on Friday in the High Court at Gisborne to manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm without a licence and possession of cannabis for sale. 

The man has interim name suppression and was remanded in custody until sentencing on December 9. 

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

About 10.30pm, the defendant took his 10-year-old son 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. 

The defendant does not hold a firearms licence because it expired in August 2012. Due to activities involving poaching wildlife, a further firearms licence application was declined. 

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

Driving slowly along the road, the defendant’s son spotted heat sources and identified possums through his scope while his father confirmed targets using the thermal monocular and advised him to take the shot. 

His son would shoot from the vehicle or at the side of the vehicle and then retrieve the possum. 

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

The defendant 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 defendant’s son fired a shot from the vehicle into what he believed was a possum. 

The defendant told his son 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. 

The defendant 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 the man’s 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.