MANSLAUGHTER OF CANNABIS GROWER BRINGS THREE-YEAR TERM

Farmer Jailed Over Shooting

Rotorua: A cannabis grower shot dead by a farmer while tending his crop had
no right to be on the property but that did not justify killing him,
Justice Williams said in the High Court in Rotorua yesterday.

He sentenced Brendon John MacDonald (27) to three years imprisonment for
the manslaughter of Grant Michael Bourne (36), at Paengaroa, 32km southeast
of Tauranga, on January 14 last year.

Mr Bourne was shot in the back with a .308 rifle by MacDonald while tending
his plot of 25 cannabis plants on MacDonald's property.

The court was told some time before January 14 MacDonald found the cannabis
plants.

On January 14, MacDonald and his father became aware of people on the property.

MacDonald loaded a high-powered rifle and fired two shots into the ground.

"At that point Mr Bourne broke cover and ran down the steep face and jumped
over the fence into the neighbour's property," Justice Williams said.

MacDonald then fired another shot as a warning, not intending to kill or
shoot Mr Bourne, Justice Williams said.

MacDonald was deeply upset and called an ambulance and police immediately.

He gave a frank explanation to police and offered to plead guilty to
manslaughter at the earliest opportunity, but the Crown charged him with
murder, of which he was found not guilty.

The judge said it was not clear why MacDonald used such a high-powered
firearm or why MacDonald did not take the plants out of the ground when he
first saw them.

Justice Williams said Mr Bourne had no right to be on the property. He was
a trespasser and was committing a criminal offence. MacDonald may have been
very annoyed and even outraged.

"Many property owners would feel the same."

But he had no legal justification for shooting Mr Bourne, Justice Williams
said.