Rosemary Ives was brushing her teeth by torchlight at a camp in a camp ground in Kaimanawa Forest Park near Turangi last Labour Weekend when the light was mistaken for a deer's eyes and she was shot dead by Andrew Mears.
Mears was jailed for two and a half years for her manslaughter and yesterday the three others in the hunting party pleaded guilty in Taupo District Court in Taupo to charges of breaching their Department of Conservation permits and illegal hunting at night.
Brad Bennett, 27, Kyle Raymond Dean, 18, and Ashley Paul Wolland, 27, were each fined $2500.
During the sentencing Ms Ives' mother Margaret McFarlane told the court the trio failed to get out of the back of the ute from which they were shooting and run a few metres to give her daughter first aid.
Holding sprigs of rosemary and a picture of her daughter, she said the group was part of a "macho, arrogant shooting and hunt fraternity" that had little heed for anybody else's safety or rights.
She said the men were just as much to blame for her daughter's death as Mears but had let Mears take the blame.
"You can only start to imagine our anguish that our gentle, gun-hating Rose has been the most gentle, undeserving target of illegal and irresponsible, stupid shooters."
She said Ms Ives' boyfriend, Adam Hyndman, thought the shot that killed her from Mears' .243 Remington rifle was a firecracker until he heard the thud of her hitting the ground.
When he yelled out they had shot her a spotlight shone in his face and he feared he would be shot as well.
He asked the shooters to call an ambulance but "under the pretext of getting cellphone coverage" the group went to their campsite 5km away.
"Not one of you got off or out of that truck and ran a few metres to give immediate first aid to my daughter and to assist Adam," Mrs McFarlane said.
"One of you was so unaware of your surroundings that you didn't realise that you were in a camping ground and drove off thinking you had left Adam and Rose alone in the bush. Cowards, inhumane cowards."
Mr Hyndman tried desperately to save her but Ms Ives died.
Mrs McFarlane also said illegal spotlighting was rife and gun licences were far too easy to obtain.
