A man has pleaded guilty to causing the hunting death of an Otago man Jock Davies in Stewart Island and can now be named.
Ashburton man Paul William John Stevens, 39, pleaded guilty in Invercargill District Court this morning to carelessly using a firearm causing the death of Jock David Grant Davies.
Stevens’ counsel Grant Fletcher entered guilty pleas on behalf of his client.
Fletcher said Stevens was “more than willing” to undergo the restorative justice process with the victim’s family.
Mr Davies’ family were present in the gallery.
Last month police said they had charged a man for causing the death of the 21-year-old.
Court documents revealed today showed Stevens carelessly used a .308 rifle, causing the victim’s death.
Stevens is a builder from Ashburton, and was emotional after leaving the dock.
He was remanded at large on bail until his sentencing in March.
The hunting trip
On July 5, emergency services were notified that the victim had been shot by a member of his own hunting party while in the remote Lords River area on Rakiura / Stewart Island .
A search and rescue team was sent to the island via helicopter, but Mr Davies was dead when they arrived.
Mr Davies was from a well-known Tapanui family and had survived two battles with leukaemia.
He was first diagnosed in 2013 and again in 2018.
When the cancer recurred, the then 14-year-old stayed at Ronald McDonald House in Auckland for three months and received a bone marrow transplant.
After his death, Clutha district councillor John Herbert said Mr Davies was a “bloody good guy”, and it was an “especially cruel” death after all he had endured.
“It’s just bloody horrible. No family should go through that.
“What he’s been through, what they’ve been through. It’s not fair.”