Hunter faces court for shooting elk, killing skier
The trial against the hunter who fired a single shot that passed through an elk before hitting and killing a cross-country skier, opens on Monday in Sweden.
”As we walked up to the animal we saw something on the ground a bit further away, behind the elk,” the woman said when questioned by police, according to daily Aftonbladet.
The 32-year-old woman had been a licensed hunter for six years, but has waited ten years to fell her first elk, a victory that soon turned into tragedy as she realised something horrific had happened.
On the ground, behind the felled animal, lay a 71-year-old cross country skier, who had been killed instantly by a stray bullet in the incident which took place in December of last year, outside of Ljungby in southern Sweden.
It turned out that the bullet that hit the elk in the neck, went straight through and continued another 60 metres before hitting the skier, killing him instantly.
At first the woman and her companions had thought the skier had been struck down by illness while skiing, and as he was still warm they attempted to perform CPR to save his life.
It wasn't until they saw that he was bleeding from the chest, that they realized that the bullet which had killed the elk had continued and hit the skier too.
”We tried to resuscitate him, but it was impossible,” said the woman to the police. .
A forensic analyst wrote in his report that ” bullets travelling through felled animals are probably not that uncommon but the chances of something like this happening are extremely slim, ” reported Aftonbladet.
However, prosecutor Marcus Ostrander believes the female hunter neglected to take proper precautions before firing the fatal shot.
"It's important to test where the boundary for carelessness lies and the court need to look at all the circumstances," Sjöstrand told the local Smålandsposten newspaper when the woman was charged in April.
On Monday, almost a year after the incident, the woman will stand trial on mansluaghter charges.
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”As we walked up to the animal we saw something on the ground a bit further away, behind the elk,” the woman said when questioned by police, according to daily Aftonbladet.
The 32-year-old woman had been a licensed hunter for six years, but has waited ten years to fell her first elk, a victory that soon turned into tragedy as she realised something horrific had happened.
On the ground, behind the felled animal, lay a 71-year-old cross country skier, who had been killed instantly by a stray bullet in the incident which took place in December of last year, outside of Ljungby in southern Sweden.
It turned out that the bullet that hit the elk in the neck, went straight through and continued another 60 metres before hitting the skier, killing him instantly.
At first the woman and her companions had thought the skier had been struck down by illness while skiing, and as he was still warm they attempted to perform CPR to save his life.
It wasn't until they saw that he was bleeding from the chest, that they realized that the bullet which had killed the elk had continued and hit the skier too.
”We tried to resuscitate him, but it was impossible,” said the woman to the police. .
A forensic analyst wrote in his report that ” bullets travelling through felled animals are probably not that uncommon but the chances of something like this happening are extremely slim, ” reported Aftonbladet.
However, prosecutor Marcus Ostrander believes the female hunter neglected to take proper precautions before firing the fatal shot.
"It's important to test where the boundary for carelessness lies and the court need to look at all the circumstances," Sjöstrand told the local Smålandsposten newspaper when the woman was charged in April.
On Monday, almost a year after the incident, the woman will stand trial on mansluaghter charges.
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