Angry after losing a fight, Jonathan Karu Pritchard went home, got a shotgun to scare his opponent and fired it down a driveway, hitting a house, the Oamaru District Court heard yesterday.
Pritchard chased his opponent down Arundel St in north Oamaru, where he confronted him and aimed the shotgun at his head, saying "bang you're dead nigger", the police summary said.
Pritchard admitted two indictable charges under the Crimes Act of carrying a shotgun with intent to commit an assault and assaulting Dylan Algar with a weapon (the shotgun) on April 8.
He was convicted and remanded by Judge Joanna Maze for a pre-sentence report and sentence on July 4.
Just before midnight on April 7, Pritchard and the victim, accompanied by others, met in Arundel St, while walking home.
Words were exchanged, followed by a fight. Pritchard broke away and, chased by his opponent, went to his Fleet St home.
He got his single-barrel shotgun and loaded it. He walked out of his house and saw his opponent at the end of the drive.
The opponent ran off and Pritchard fired a shot at where he had been, hitting the wall of a house opposite but not penetrating it.
Pritchard chased his opponent and confronted him with the shotgun and threatened him.
When they started fighting again, the shotgun was taken from him.
When police arrived, Pritchard claimed his opponent had presented the shotgun and fired it, hitting the defendant in the elbow.
Later, Pritchard admitted he had the shotgun and said he had been angry at losing the fight and wanted to get the upper hand by scaring his opponent, the police summary said.
