SHOOTING OF DOPE GROWER WAS NOT MURDER RULES JURY

Woodcutter Brendon MacDonald was working in an isolated gully on his
family's Paengaroa farm when he saw two trespassers tending a cannabis plot
they had secretly planted there.

Minutes later, one of those men was dead, shot in the back with a .308
hunting rifle.

MacDonald has never denied killing Grant Bourne, aged 36. But he has
maintained since the shooting on January 14, 2000 that he had not meant to
hurt the man who had been growing illegal drugs on his property, just warn
him.

This week, in the High Court at Rotorua, a jury of five women and seven men
deliberated for just 3 1/2 hours before finding the shy 27-year-old guilty
of manslaughter, but not murder. He will be sentenced next month.

Parents Ken and Glenys MacDonald were delighted by the decision, which they
said was the best possible outcome for their son.

"We are elated. There is a charge to answer. The decision is just and fair,"
said a buoyant Mr MacDonald.

People in the tiny, close-knit community of Paengaroa, 11km southeast of Te
Puke, are also pleased. They have been ripping cleverly hidden cannabis
plots out of their land for years, often fearing retaliation from the
growers.

"The man did bloody right," said Paengaroa Motor Lodge owner Robert Collins.
"There are too many dopey idiots who can do what they like on your property
and get away with it. If there was a lighter sentence, he should have got
it."

Brendon MacDonald discovered about 25 cannabis plants in the gully at the
back of the farm several days before the shooting. When he glimpsed the men
responsible for the plot as he worked that summer afternoon, he was angry
and ran to tell his father. Then he went into the family home, took the
rifle from a gun cabinet containing four other firearms, and loaded it.

He headed back to the gully, his father behind him.

His father, who was unarmed, yelled, "Come out or I'll set the dogs on you."

Two warning shots were fired and MacDonald shouted at the two fleeing men to
stop, as Mr Bourne ran in front of MacDonald and jumped over a fence into a
neighbouring property. Just as he was disappearing into thick scrub,
MacDonald shot in his direction.

"I wanted him to stop and come back, not die. A .308 is not a toy, it's a
big gun," he told police later that day.

"It sounds stupid, but I really didn't expect him to get shot."

Crown prosecutor Rob Ronayne argued that MacDonald had grown up in a family
which used guns and he was a "better than average shot." He knew the
consequences of shooting a gun of that power in the direction of a human
being. He also knew that the victim was unarmed.

Rather than reporting the cannabis growers to the police, MacDonald chose to
deal with them himself, said Mr Ronayne.

"That cannot have indicated to anyone that this man was scared ... He wanted
a confrontation."

But defence lawyer Paul Mabey, QC, said his client had simply been
protecting his land, did not mean to harm Mr Bourne and instantly regretted
shooting at him.

"This young chap made a mistake."

MacDonald rushed over to Mr Bourne when he saw he had been struck, saying,
"Get up bro, get up."

He then told his father to call the police and ambulance service.

When he realised the man was dead, he cried, said Mr Mabey.

"He has to live for the rest of his life knowing, because he wasn't careful
enough, a fellow is dead. He has to carry that his whole life."