Kaikoura man denies charges of shooting his friend

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 9

Kaikoura man denies charges of shooting his friend

Two shepherds, who were friends, went into Kaikoura on a Friday evening for a few beers after finishing work for the week. They engaged in some light-hearted banter about getting a woman out of bed and then one shot the other in the head through a hole in a wall, Mr Justice Hardie Boys and a jury were told in the High Court yesterday. Kevin Gerard Keehan, aged 28, a shepherd, has pleaded not guilty to alternative charges of causing grievous bodily harm to Geoffrey William Inkersell with reckless disregard for the safety of others or causing bodily injury to Mr Inkersell by carelessly using a firearm.

The trial will finish today.

Mr G. K. Panckhurst appears for the Crown and Messrs B. McClelland, Q.C., and H. D. P. van Schreven for Keehan.

Opening the Crown case, Mr Panckhurst said that the charges arose from a shooting incident in the shearers’ quarters on the Cloudy Range station, some 30 miles inland from Kaikoura, in the early hours of Saturday, August 17.

Keehan worked as a shepherd for Murray Austin Rivers, who farmed Cloudy Range. Keehan lived in the huts which were about half a mile from the homestead where Mr Rivers lived with his children and a housekeeper, Neroli Anne Allan.

After finishing work for the week Keehan went into Kaikoura late on the afternoon of Friday, August 16, and drank at a number of hotels. He met up with a group of young men including Mr Inkersell, who worked as a shepherd on the nearby station of Spey Downs. They had been friends for a couple of years.

When the Adelphi Hotel closed the group went looking for a party they had been told about but they were unable to find it.

Eventually Keehan and Mr Inkersell decided to go back to the Cloudy Range station, travelling in Mr Inkersell’s utility truck with Mr Keehan driving as Mr Inkersell had had too much to drink.

They reached the homestead about 1.30 a.m., obtained saveloys and other foodstuffs from the freezer to cook a meal and went to the shearers’ quarters where they watched a late programme on television. At one stage a .22 rifle was produced and it was pointed at a pop singer on the screen and it was suggested that he was so bad he should be shot. The two men carried on in a jocular, good natured manner. Mr Inkersell was taking the housekeeper, Neroli Allan, to the Kaikoura Rugby Club’s ball the following week and he suggested that he might get her out of bed but Keehan objected to that.

Eventually they decided to go to bed and Mr Inkersell was to sleep in the adjoining room. As he left he commented that he might get Neroli up and some light-hearted banter was exchanged. That continued through the wall as the two men prepared to go to bed. Keehan had a cigarette and picked up the rifle which had been discared. He put the muzzle into a small hole between the two rooms so that it was pointing in the general direction of the bed.

At that stage Keehan said that he thought that Mr Inkersell was not in the bed but was at the rear of the hut. Then the rifle went off. Keehan awoke Mr Rivers and

told him there had been an accident and that Mr Inkersell had shot himself. A doctor and the ambulance were summoned. Mr Rivers found Mr Inkersell sprawled across the bed with a wound on the left side of the head. He was deeply unconscious.

When Mr Inkersell was admitted to Christchurch Hospital he was in a serious condition and remained in that state for some time. It was 10 days before he recovered sufficiently so that the bullet fragments could be removed from his head but he had made a good recovery.

Detective Gavin Andrew Lysaght came to the station from Blenheim and was later joined by detectives from Christchurch. Keehan gave a full account of his movements and admitted that he had poked the rifle through the hole in the wall and “it had gone off.”

The detectives examined the scene and did a reconstruction of the account given by Keehan. They found it was impossible to sight the rifle because the hole in the wall was too small.

The evidence supported Keehan’s account of what had happened, said Mr Panckhurst. In evidence Mr Inkersell, aged 24, said that he had worked as a shepherd since leaving school. His mind was a blank about what happened after he went to Cloudy Range, apart from having a beer and going to bed. The next thing he remembered was the ambulance arriving. Apart from his left leg not being as good as it used to be and his speech being not quite right, he was “pretty much” back to normal. He could not remember any problems between himself and Keehan on the Friday evening.

To Mr McClelland, Mr Inkersell said that he was still working at Spey Downs and was still friendly with Neroli and Keehan. There was nothing which he could recall which would have caused bad blood between himself and Keehan.

Murray Austin Rivers said that he was awakened by Keehan saying: “There’s been an accident. I think Geoff shot himself." He was referring to Mr Inkersell. Keehan was very confused and upset and witness told him to telephone a doctor and ambulance while he got dressed. They went to the shearers’ quarters where he found Mr Inkersell lying diagonally across the bed.

“My first reaction was that I thought he was dead. I rubbed his cheek and he blinked. At that point I was very concerned about keeping him alive,” Mr Rivers said. He was extremely cold and he could see the wound in the head. It appeared that the bullet had “shimmied off” his skull. He was covered with blankets and the heater was turned on. They had to wait for an hour and a half for the ambulance to arrive.

The .22 rifle was lying on the ground outside the hut and he picked it up and rested it against the wall. After Mr Inkersell was taken away in the ambulance they returned to the homestead. That was about 4.30 a.m. Keehan was very distressed and restless and returned to the hut for a brief period. He mentioned something about ringing his solicitor and witness said: “If you have done nothing there is nothing to worry about.” After a telephone request, Keehan’s brother came from Kaikoura, arriving about 8 a.m. They had a talk and then Keehan said: “It was my

fault.” Later Keehan had said that Mr Inkersell had said something about coming down to pull Neroli out of bed and he tried to emphasise to him that he should not do that. He said that he had poked the gun through the wall, the witness presumed to scare him.

A police armourer, Michael John Chesham, said the rifle was shown, on examination and testing, to have a trigger pressure of lb, which was quite safe for this type of rifle. The . safety catch worked efficiently. The rifle could not be made to fire accidentally, in testing. Apart • from showing signs of neglect, the rifle appeared to be near new. It was badly in need of cleaning.

Mr Chesham was crossexamined at length by Mr McClelland, relating to safety aspects of the rifle. He said the safety catch was working properly when he tested it. He had not noted in his report that it was bent, because the safety catch functioned efficiently. Mr Chesham agreed the safety catch had a "wobble” and was off centre, because it was bent.

The safety catch could be applied when there was a live round in the breech. There was only a small movement to engage it into its recess.

If this slot was missed the safety catch would not be applied at all. With the live bullet in the chamber, and pressure then applied to the trigger in the belief the safety catch was on, the rifle would fire, the witness agreed.

Mr Chesham said the rifle jammed three times out of five when he test fired it. He said he considered the rifle did not function fully because it was very filthy and "gummed up” with lead oxide.