While one family cried for the son, brother and friend fatally shot on December 19, another cried for his unintentional killer, Reuben Kenneth James Burke, who told the court through his lawyer "if there was any way to make it better I would, but I can't".
Burke (25) was sentenced to seven months' home detention, 300 hours' community work, and ordered to pay $10,000 to the family of Dougal DisstonStanfield Fyfe (23), after admitting careless use of a firearm causing Mr Fyfe's death.
He was also ordered to forfeit the rifle and his firearms licence was cancelled.
Following the sentencing, Mr Fyfe's father, Grant, issued a statement which said it was a "very sad time for everyone involved and we miss our Dougal very much".
Burke, through his lawyer Phena Byrne, apologised.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry," his statement said. "I never intended to hurt anyone.
"I am so sorry to have killed Dougal.
"He was one of my best friends.
"If there was any way I could make it better, I would, but I can't."
Burke told The New Zealand Herald he could not have endured the tragedy without the forgiveness and support of his friend's grieving family.
"It makes a hell of a difference. They are just amazing people," Burke said.
"I don't know what to do without them really. They knew straight away it was an accident, and Grant [Fyfe] said that he's already forgiven me."
Mr Fyfe's sister, Harriet, told Judge Kevin Phillips the emotional impact of her brother's death had been "unimaginable" and the family had been given a life sentence.
His stepmother, Caroline Harker, said "everybody made mistakes" in the incident.
"They go back years in terms of what's happened [here].
"We like people going out, hunting and having fun - I think that's a very important part of New Zealand life - but Reuben isn't the only one who made a mistake here."
Tributes flowed in court for the Fyfe family and the way they had handled themselves in the wake of their devastating loss.
Ms Byrne read comments from the Burkes to the Fyfes, honouring the "courageous, dignified and respectful way the Fyfe family have dealt with this matter".
"They could have chosen vengeance and malice, but they chose love and strength. We will be indebted to them for all time," Ms Byrne said on behalf of the Burkes.
It was a "tragic, difficult and emotional case", where one family had lost a son, brother and a friend and another "stands before you, looking at a son, brother, partner ... and awaiting his fate", Ms Byrne said.
"The defendant stands before you in the full knowledge he, and he alone, is fully responsible for the death of his friend.
"If he could turn back the clock he would, but he can't."
She submitted a sentence of between 9 and 12 months' home detention would be appropriate and "little would be gained" by sending him to prison, which would also be unlikely to bring any solace to the Fyfe family.
She said Burke had accepted responsibility and shown genuine remorse, volunteering to surrender his firearms' licence and had made $10,000 available to be paid to the Fyfe family for emotional harm reparation.
In sentencing, Judge Phillips said it was difficult to remove "a feeling of outrage".
"It is difficult ... to remove from my mind the fact that here you shot and killed your best friend, the son, the brother of the Fyfe family, and that you did so when out hunting ... at night on a neighbouring farm, without permission, where you did not properly identify your target."
After attending a Christmas party for residents of the Maungawerea Valley on December 18, Burke, Mr Fyfe and another associate, Benjamin Sutherland, set off to go eeling, Judge Phillips said.
"It would appear if alcohol was an issue here, it was to a very low level."
After setting the eel trap, the trio went rabbit shooting, returned to check the trap and began the journey home early on December 19.
At that point, there were no thoughts of hunting, he said.
However, when the men spotted a deer on Mt Burke Station, they began pursuing it in the vehicle.
"You fired two shots at the deer and considered you had landed at least one of those shots and wounded it."
The hunt continued in the vehicle, before the deer was spotted by a thick stand of manuka trees in Mt Burke Station.
It was then Burke and Mr Fyfe went after the deer on foot, crossing a fence and moving into the manuka stand, equipped with head torches.
"You went to the right of the manuka and thought the deceased was behind you. He had gone into the middle of the manuka."
Burke was unable to see the deer but heard movements in the manuka and "briefly saw the legs of a deer, as you saw it".
"Then you saw a single eye reflection, as you saw it, about 60m away ... it was silver-blue in colour, similar to a deer eye.
"You called out to the deceased 'Cover my shot' and there was no reply. Thinking the deceased was behind you, you shot at the reflection ... if there was a view at all, it must have been very minute.
"You, walking up after you had fired the shot, found you had killed your friend."
Burke was breath-tested four to five hours after the incident and returned a negative result, Judge Phillips said in discounting alcohol as a contributing or aggravating factor.
Judge Phillips took issue with a police submission the offending was "near the most serious of any range envisaged".
If it was, Burke should have been charged with manslaughter, he said.
While he found the level of carelessness to be "medium to high", the repercussions of the incident would be something Burke and the Fyfe family would carry with them forever.
Aggravating factors were the loss of life, failures to identify the target, take additional care while shooting at night and check the firing gauge, shooting through thick bush and being on Mt Burke Station without permission.
Mitigating factors, including Burke's remorse, good character and early guilty plea, reduced the sentence from a starting point of two years' imprisonment to 14 months.
However, an absence of personal aggravating factors led Judge Phillips to impose the home detention sentence.
"You are serving a term of imprisonment in your own home. It is not an easy sentence at all."
"The pre-sentence report says you hold yourself entirely responsible for the death, as you should.
"Your sentence will be every morning [when you] think about what you did."
Special conditions included not to possess or consume alcohol or illicit drugs, not to possess firearms and post-detention conditions for six months following the sentence.
