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The man who shot his 8-year-old son did not look like the monster Kim Tupara envisioned.
Sitting on the dock at the Gisborne courthouse, Kirk Davis was well dressed, clean shaven and “looked like someone you would choose to hitchhike,” Tupara said.
The 43-year-old man was being sentenced for shooting Tupara’s son, Khan Koia, in the small settlement of Patutahi, outside Gisborne, around 5 p.m. on March 5 last year.
Khan was only 8 years old at the time.
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Davis lived with his mother in a house on Kaimoe Rd. Tupara and his family lived in the nearest house on the same side of the road, about 300 meters away.
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The bullet from the air rifle lodged in Khan Koia’s arm.
Davis shot Khan with a .177-caliber air rifle while the boy was riding a four-wheeled motorcycle. The projectile struck Khan on his right forearm, where it lodged deep in soft tissue.
Davis refused to speak to police and never explained why he shot the boy.
Judge Warren Cathcart sentenced him to 22 months in jail last week. He had considered a house arrest sentence, but was concerned that Davis would return to the same house. The judge granted permission to request house arrest if an alternative address could be found.
Tupara said Stuff The family had not expected Davis to receive a jail sentence and had arranged for him to stay at their home, where he had resided while on bail.
“We were surprised, but we were happy to learn that he was incarcerated. Even if it had been a month or two, we would have been happy, ”Tupara said.
He said his family had lived in his house for about 17 years and he had no intention of leaving it.
“I think they are more likely to move. We will definitely oppose any attempt to have him go home to serve house arrest, ”he said.
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Khan Koia (now 10 years old) was shot by a neighbor when he was 8 years old.
Davis and his mother had been family neighbors for a full 17 years, but Tupara and his partner Billy Koia, Khan’s father, had never seen Davis.
A few hours after the shooting, Koia confronted Davis and assaulted him, for which he was sentenced to seven and a half months of home detention.
“But the first time I saw him in person was in court. Many people who live here have never seen it, ”said Tupara.
Before entering the courtroom, Tupara had been overwhelmed, but was able to read her victim impact statements to Davis.
He just looked straight ahead, showed no emotion. It didn’t look like what I thought. When bad things happen, you think of people who looked scary, but he looked like someone you would pick as a hitchhiker. Well dressed, clean shaven, normal, ”he said.
“I really hope he gets help while he serves his sentence,” Tupara said.
Statements on the impact of victims
Khan’s statement, read by a supporter, began by telling the court that he was now 10 years old and that he liked “hunting on horseback with my dad, riding horses, riding a motorcycle, and playing outside with my brother.”
“When they shot me, I thought I was going to die. I felt scared, worried and in pain. Now I am afraid to go to sleep. I like to go to sleep with my nanny and my grandfather because I feel safe there, ”he said.
“I don’t know why the man is not in jail and I don’t know why he shot me. He could have talked to me or told me to leave. I hope he doesn’t shoot me again. I wish it wasn’t in the way of me. I was just riding my bike, doing nothing wrong, ”he said.
Tupara told the court that he had spent many sleepless nights, “hearing my children wake up at night crying with night terrors, too scared to go to the bathroom down the hall, not wanting to sleep in their own beds or rooms.”
“We are a family that likes to spend a lot of time outdoors. Before this incident, we used to walk a lot, but now we fear passing through their property. I even feel apprehensive when passing your property. Often times since the incident, both children have not wanted to play outside and sometimes they have not wanted to attend school, ”said Tupara.
Koia told Davis that his actions had a great impact.
“You have scared children for your cowardly and ruthless actions. Not only my children, but also their friends. It is terrible to know that Khan’s friends do not want to come visit him and that his parents do not let them go to sleep away from home because of what you have done, ”he said.
You’re lucky you never killed our boy. How can you shoot an innocent child and then hide like a hunter hunting prey? You looked through your visor and pulled the trigger knowing it was a boy. How could she not come to his aid when she saw him clutching his blood-soaked arm?
“You and the court could never know or understand how much this has affected me and my family, and it is all due to you, Kirk. You are weak. Our son’s wound may have healed, but it leaves a scar, visually on his arm but deeper in his mind and heart. You have taken a lot from him and that will never heal, ”Koia said.
