The whanau of a young father shot while hunting with friends say his death was a tragic accident.
Photo: 123rf.com
Carlos Tauhou Ngamoki, 27, died around midnight near Te Kaha in eastern Bay of Plenty.
An aunt of Mr Ngamoki said the family understood the group of three men were retrieving a deer they had shot when one of them slipped, causing the gun to go off.
The circumstances were tragic and had been very hard for his hunting companions, she said.
Her nephew was a keen hunter and knew what he was doing.
Mr Ngamoki, who grew up in Te Kaha, had only recently come back after living in Australia, she said.
He had a preschool-aged son.
The relative - who did not want to be named - said Mr Ngamoki's body had been taken to Auckland for a post-mortem and family had said a karakia at the scene.
"It was very upsetting and moving and emotional."
The family hoped his body would be brought back to the marae in Te Kaha tomorrow evening, she said.
Mr Ngamoki is the second person to die in a hunting accident in the last week, after 11-year-old Connor Phillips was fatally shot on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Stephen Long, 61 was discharged without conviction in the Invercargill District Court after admitting shooting his son dead on a Stewart Island hunting trip in March.
