A jealous lover uses air gun to kill

MON, 19 SEP 2011 1:42P.M. An Auckland man shot his flatmate dead with the same brand of air rifle used in a fatal shooting that a friend faced trial over, a jury has been told. Glenn Michael McDonald, 44, thought his flatmate Keith Kahi was having an affair with a woman he was interested in before shooting him with the rifle, crown prosecutor Nathan Spier said. McDonald is on trial at the High Court in Auckland charged with murdering Mr Kahi last year. Mr Kahi was found dead outside their home in Botany Downs, southeast Auckland, on July 4 last year after being shot seven times. Mr Spier said Mr Kahi and McDonald were friends who had flatted together since 2007. Both had used methamphetamine. Mr Spier said McDonald had been suspicious a woman he wished to have a relationship with had begun one with Kahi – something Mr Spier says the woman denied to McDonald. He sent several texts to friends in the days before the shooting, among them one saying, "I want to hold on to all the hate I feel at the moment". McDonald also said he was "about to drop a bomb on a few people's lap" in another text. Mr Spier said McDonald shot Mr Kahi at least seven times on the evening of July 4, in their lounge and possibly in a car as Mr Kahi was trying to escape. Afterwards, he admitted to a friend that he had shot someone, Mr Spier said. That friend was the partner of a man who had stood trial following a fatal shooting with the same brand of air rifle, he said. The details of that shooting are suppressed. This showed McDonald knew the rifle could kill someone, Mr Spier said. A jury of eight men and four women is hearing the case before Justice Rebecca Ellis. NZN Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Accused-knew-air-rifle-could-kill---Crown/tabid/423/articleID/226375/Default.aspx#ixzz1Ysn9NCKV